The Meaning of One's Birth
by Sunlight Memory
Summary: AU. Asch escaped imprisonment right after Luke was created and took the replica with him as he left. Luke grew up with a brother and a family, while Asch kept his place in the world. Yet fate refused to be avoided. Aschalia, Lukear. Follows the storyline of the game.
1. Prologue

**A/N: This will follow the story of the game, with a few changes here and there. The pairings will be mainly Lukear and Aschalia, with other pairings on the side. Otherwise, this is an AU with a brother bond between Asch and Luke, even though they are still original and replica. Most of the dialog in this chapter is from the Asch Gaiden.**

**I apologise for all writing errors; I'm not a native English user. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

**Prologue **

**The One Who Went Missing and the Two Who Returned**

_ND2000. In Kimlasca shall be born one who inherits the power of Lorelei. He will be a boy of royal blood with hair of red. He shall be called the Light of the Sacred Flame. And he will lead Kimlasca-Lanvaldear to new prosperity._

_ND2002. The One Who Would Seize Glory shall destroy the land upon which he was born. A land by the name of Hod. War shall thereafter persist between Kimlasca and Malkuth for a full cycle of seasons. _

Luke fon Fabre had an habit of falling into trouble no matter what he did. Be it a tree he decided to climb or just a short journey to Baticul's lower levels, he was most likely to end up with a scolding from his father due to the trouble he landed himself in. It wasn't even _his _fault most of the time. The tree just had to push him down head first into the garden and the children living in the capital – Baticul was the capital of Kimlasca – just had to miss each other and hit him with the mud instead. The tree had it coming and anyone would throw back at the children and join them in their game, right?

The maids at the manor – for Luke was the son of a duke, and all dukes lived in manors, at least so it seemed in his young mind – said his habit was usual for ten year old boys, and his mother followed that up with "boys will be boys", but that didn't stop his father from scolding him. He would go on and on with how he had to be responsible and that the future depended on him. He was someone important, someone who was meant to rule the kingdom of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear. After all, he was engaged to the princess of the country, Natalia, and would one day take over both his father's place as Duke Fabre as well as the throne where his uncle sat – his mother was the younger sister of the king.

Yet the scolding didn't stop him from falling into trouble, usually taking Guy – his servant and friend -, Natalia or both with him in the fall, though they normally got out of it without any consequences at all.

So much for supporting friends.

It was because of this habit of his that the young boy wasn't entirely surprised by the situation he found himself in. He had, after all, heard stories of similar events earlier in his history and politics lessons. Kidnappings of children to people high up in the political system were somewhat normal from what he had understood, as children could be the best cards to play against their parents.

What surprised him was the fact that his kidnapper was no other than his sword instructor and master, Van Grants, and that he had been taken in the middle of the night, from his own bedroom which was probably one of the most guarded places in the manor. Yet the boy had been taken away to a place he didn't recognise; an old and abandoned manor or castle near the coast of a distant continent, as they had to take the boat to get there. He had been thrown into a small cell in the wall and kept locked up until the kidnappers needed him. They strapped him to a huge machine he had no idea what did that stood in the middle of the room where he was kept, and preformed experiments after experiments on him.

It had hurt. Hurt so badly he had wanted to die at some points. It burned and he couldn't understand why no one came to free him. Had they not noticed that he was gone? Natalia and his mother were sure to be panicking, though his father might not take it so hard – he had always been distant, and maybe the lack of someone to scold was good for him. No, they were waiting for him. He just knew it.

"_Luke… I'm sorry… I want you to understand. For the sake of the world, your power is needed."_ Master Van would say, looking down on him as he lay inside the machine.

_I have to return. _

_I have to return. _

_I have to return. _

_Everyone at the manor is worrying about me. _He wanted to believe so, at the very least.

_I can't live in a place like this!_ He had to escape, had to go back home. They needed him. So he waited calmly in his cell and endured the experiments, holding out for the moment when he could escape.

"_Just give up. We've already created a replacement for you. There's no point in going back to the manor. To them, you are no longer of any use."_

_A lie…_

"_It doesn't have to be you." _

_It's a lie!_

"_We no longer need you."_

_It has to be a lie! If not, then…_

"_No longer need…"_

They needed him. He knew they needed him. He wouldn't listen to his Master's words. He had to return. Had to go back to the place where he belonged.

Back to Baticul.

Back to his parents.

His friends.

Home.

_Natalia. _

"_Luke. When we grow up, we will marry each other." _He could still picture her that day she had spoken those words. A young girl in a light blue dress, sitting in a field of flowers with sun reflecting from her blonde hair. Natalia. His sweet, dear, caring Natalia.

"_We'll become the king and the queen!" _She had made coronets of flowers, one for him and one for herself. He had been embarrassed as she placed his on top of his spiky, red hair. Embarrassed, but happy. It smelled good too.

"_Let's make this country a great place together." _The smell of those flowers still lingered in his nose.

"_If it is us, we can do it for sure. Right, Luke?"_

That's right. Natalia still needed him. _Him_ and no one else. He had to return to her, even if no one else were waiting for him.

When the guard who gave him food came later the day his Master told him he was no longer needed, Luke jumped him from behind. He had to get home fast, and at any price. The guard didn't know what hit him and fell to the floor unconscious. The young boy grabbed his sword and fled. Ran up all the stairs from the room where he was kept. Ran until he reached a door leading into a small living room. A purple jewel rested in the door he came out of, but he didn't give it much of a thought before bolting toward the only other door in the room. The door out of this prison he had come to know.

How long had they held him here? Three weeks? Four? He didn't care. Just had to get out and back home. Hopefully it was still summer, as it had been when he was taken, for he was only wearing his summer clothes.

As he grabbed the door and was about to pull it open, he felt something take a hold of his black shirt. He froze, terrified of being caught again. Slowly, his head moved to the left, where the hold was, and found himself staring into green eyes identical to his own. The young boy took a step back, too shocked to form any words at all. The thing that had grabbed a hold of him was a young boy around the age of ten, with spiky red hair and _green eyes_. It had to be a joke, had to be a mirror. Of course, he had just seen his own reflection in a mirror and the state of the situation had made him _believe_ the other was real. That was the only explanation he could find for why there would be two of him in the room, two identical persons at the same height and with all the same shapes. The only different was that the other boy's spiked hair was pointed in the opposite directions of his own. And the eyes; the other boy's eyes were blank and empty as they stared out into the room both boys stood in.

Then they fell on him, the one who had so suddenly come into the room, and they lit up, became alive. Warm. Warm eyes filled with light and cheerfulness as they watched the original Luke fon Fabre.

What. The. Hell? How could there be two of him? For the other boy had to be real, as he had not moved his head around like the mirror image had.

"_We've already created a replacement for you."_ Master Van's words sounded in his head as he stared at the other boy. He didn't move, didn't come any closer. Just stood there by the door and watched the room and the boy he was made to look like.

A replacement… Luke frowned. He had read somewhere about something called fomicry. The creation of replicas.

"The boy is missing!" the screams from the room he had just escaped from sounded through the entire house. If Luke was going to escape, this had to be it. He ran forward and kicked the door by the other boy open. He gave the other him one last look, trying to decide what to do with him. He had been created to take his place at home, but leaving him here would be like leaving the boy to most likely die. What good would he be for Master Van if Luke escaped and got home before they could replace him? The light and warmth in his eyes would die as life left him, and Luke didn't really want to see that happen. Luke fon Fabre was not a cold hearted boy, just one that studied and worked hard to become everything everyone expected from him, and he was not going to leave someone to die, even if their purpose in life was to replace him. So, with the sword from the guard in his right hand, he grabbed the other kid's hand with his left and dragged him out of the room and toward the road to freedom.

*~^:^~*

The identical duo didn't make it far before the original realized the other could hardly walk, no less run. He bent down on one knee and signalled to the other him to get on his back. The boy just looked at him with those green, warm eyes of his, not intending to do as Luke wanted him to. The original sighted, they didn't have time for this, before laying his sword down on the ground and grabbing a hold on both hands belonging to the other boy. He locked them together around his own neck, placed one hand behind the replica's – the other one had to be that – legs and lifted him onto his back. He stood up, glancing down at the sword that laid by his feet. He couldn't escape with both the other him and the sword, and while the sword was needed to protect their lives, he could always gain a new one later on. It wasn't like he could fight anyway with the boy on his back.

Together they ran away from the place where they had been kept and escaped out on a field in front of the building. The sun was on its way down in the horizon; making the enemy capable of seeing them should they reach the outside too. Somewhere in front of him was a forest and mountains. Their best chance was to get in the forest somewhere and from there look for a boat that could take them to Baticul.

_They_.

He was surprised by himself and how fast he had accepted the kid as a traveling companion. It would be easier on his own, but to leave the other boy now would be the same as leaving him in the building behind them, and company usually made all journeys more enjoyable.

As the sun disappeared behind them, the two slipped into the darkness of the forest. They could hear the sounds of soldiers running across the field to catch up with them, a sound that chased the two boys and made Luke run faster. He couldn't let them be caught here. Not after escaping.

On the left side he noticed a spot darker than the rest of the forest around him. Curiously he came closer, holding tight onto the boy on his back. The darkness made him incapable of seeing anything at all, though his eyes slowly got used to the place. Too slowly. He tripped over something on the ground – hopefully a root, and _not_ an animal – and fell head first towards the ground, which turned out to fold downward. Branches and leaves touched his skin as he passed them, tumbling around and losing his companion. He finally came to a stop as he collided with the trunk of a tree.

"Ow…" he lifted his right hand to the back of his head, scratching it carefully. It hurt, but not too badly. Not after all that had happened in _that_ place. It didn't feel like anything was broken either. Now, if only he could find some shelter for the night. For him and…

The boy froze.

Where was the other him? He felt around at the ground where he had landed, but didn't find what he was looking for.

"Hey?" he tried to mutter, hoping the other would hear him. Complete silence was the only thing answering him. A shiver went down his back. Could he be hurt? Dead? No, he was going get them both to Baticul, so the other couldn't be dead. He refused to believe so.

A small hand touched his left one, and a calming feeling rushed through his body. Eyes now used to the darkness fell on a small person beside him, his companion. The boy opened his mouth to say something, but only air escaped. Luke shook his head. Of course, the other one couldn't speak, hadn't said a word during their travel at all. Couldn't walk, couldn't speak, just like a new born baby. And that was supposed to replace him? He wanted to laugh.

"They came this way!" a dark voice yelled across the forest, causing the two boys to push themselves closer to the trunk of the tree Luke had crashed into. That is, Luke pushed himself further away and dragged the other boy with him.

"It's no use; we can't find them in this darkness," another voice answered the other. They were close, but not too close.

"Let's go back and try again tomorrow; they can't have gone very far, not with the replica unable to walk." Footsteps walked away, and the muttering of the soldiers disappeared into the darkness.

The original breathed out, relieved that they didn't bother to look too closely. He looked at the replica by his side, ad leaned against the tree behind them.

"I have to get back… Everyone at the manor is waiting for me…" the boy smiled at him, as if he could understand the importance of the words he had spoken.

"And I'm taking you with me, even if you want to or not." At least to Baticul. Once they reached the city, he could better decide what to do with his copy.

He stood up and grabbed the hand of his replica, dragging him behind again as he moved forward. It wouldn't be safe to stay here, not with the soldiers so close and returning in the morning. Closer to the mountains he had seen in the distance would be better. The other boy stumbled after him, finally able to walk on his own.

*~^:^~*

"_Master Van! Please teach me today too!" Luke looked up at his sword instructor, determination in his eyes and a firm grip on the toy swords they used for training. _

"_Okay," was the reply he got, and the young boy charged forward, attacking time and time again, only to be pushed back and ordered to try again. _

"_Luke. One day, you will become the king of this country. In order to be able to lead the people, you must study hard and well." His mother said, watching him from her place beside his father. All the burdens placed on him, all the work he had to do to be perfect. _

"_If you can't be an outstanding king, it'll be a lot of trouble, Luke. We are to marry when we grow up, okay?" Natalia's voice and words, before the coronet of flowers. She too stood in the room, on the other side of his father. All three of them watched him with judging eyes and sad smiles. He had been in trouble again, that day. Something that involved Natalia. He couldn't remember, though. The boy gave them a sad look in return, that of a boy with too much on his shoulders compare to his age. His father didn't seem to notice, however. _

"_If it's Luke, he will surely become a great king. I can assure you on that." Master Van, smiling like he always had in those days. Master Van who taught him how to use a sword. Master Van who was always nice and supportive. _

"_Luke… There are many more things you have to know about this world."_

"_Eh? I already know that! You already told me that my practice isn't enough yet too, didn't you?" They had been outside, watching the sun as it faded over Baticul. Sitting in the same field of flowers where Natalia had made his flower coronet. _

"_Not really, I know that you are already trying hard. But you can still grow a lot more… Because you are the chosen one." The chosen one to be king. The chosen one to be kidnapped. He didn't really know, didn't care, what Master Van meant that day. If only…_

Luke woke with a start. Daylight hit him from an opening in the trees above his head, shining down on the leaf-filled ground he was sleeping on. Voices of the past kept coming back in his dreams, voices he longed to hear saying words he remembered. All he had at the moment was the clothes he walked in and the silent companion he no longer needed to drag around. The replica had learned to walk just fine – with a little stumbling here and there -, though he could not run yet. It slowed them down, but at least they had yet to be caught up with by the soldiers chasing them.

They had spent two days reaching the mountains he had seen in the distance, and wasted three days trying to cross them. At the moment the duo rested below a tree with low branches on the opposite side of the mountains from where they had started their journey. The replica lay completely silent beside him, still asleep and lost to the world around him. Innocent, without a care in the world. The last few days his eyes had even begun to show _life_ about everything he watched, not only when his eyes landed on his original. Luke was left once more to wonder about what he was going to do with his traveling companion once they reached Baticul. The other had been created to take his place, but he wouldn't be able to do that now. Not when they had escaped together. Not that the copy had had any choices; he had been dragged along, just to wait for a slower death outside of Van's clutches instead of being killed fast. The original hadn't thought about that when he had taken the kid. This world wasn't big enough for two Lukes, and strange things where always looked down upon. The other him would most likely be killed once they reached the city.

And strangely, Luke didn't want that to happen. He had freed the kid, had taught him to walk, had spent five otherwise lonely days in his company. He couldn't just throw that away. They would have to wait and see what were to happen once they came back to the capital.

_I have to go back. _

_I have to go back. _

_Back to the manor in Baticul. _

_Everyone is waiting for me in that manor._

Those had been Luke's words for himself these last days on the run. He just had to go home, home to where his parents were, home to Natalia.

The replica blinked his green eyes and stared at the original in front of him. A smile covered his lips, just like always as he watched the one identical to himself. Luke stood up and held out his hand, helping the other boy to his feet.

"Everyone is waiting for me…Father, Mother, Guy, Natalia, everyone, everyone, everyone… That's why… I must go back! Just a little longer, and we can finally rest properly." He muttered as he led the way south-west. When they had crossed a high peak of the mountains, he had seen a city or town far off in the distance in that very direction. Hopefully a harbour, but at the moment it didn't matter much at all. Any city would be fine, even if it was the capital of Malkuth, Grand Chokmah.

They walked the entire day, and as the sun went down, they could even see the end of the forest surrounding them. Soon they would be in that city he had seen, soon they would be home.

Luke jumped out of relief and for the first time since he had been kidnapped, he smiled widely. They would make it, they would go home. Home to Baticul. To all he held dear.

A whimper was what brought him out of his happy moment. The strange sound made him turn around, just in time to see a soldier charging toward him. He jumped out of the way, just narrowly escaping the sword threating to cut his arm. It was not aiming for a critical place, meaning the other had every intention of capturing him alive. The soldier straightened up and came toward him again, and Luke moved out of the way again. In the process, his green eyes landed on the source of the whimper he had heard earlier. His replica lay on the ground with a soldier standing above him, ready to drive his sword straight through his heart. The original snapped after air, a cold shiver going down his back. He had to stop it, had to save him. The replica _needed _him to save him.

The soldier he had avoided so far attacked again, this time expecting the kid to jump away once more. Luke gave him a quick glare, before moving his upper body to the side and grabbing a hold of the soldiers arm. He twisted it around, flipping the soldier over on his back. His right hand reached for the sword, wrestling it out of the soldiers hand before driving it into his heart. In a swift move the boy ripped the sword out again before charging toward the second soldier.

He couldn't die here. Couldn't let his other self die either.

_I will definitely go back. _

_Go back. _

_Go back. _

_Back to the place where everyone is waiting. _

_Back to the place that is truly my home!_

He made it just in time to move his new sword beneath the replica and the thing aiming for his heart. One move knocked the sword out of the hand of the soldier and into Luke's waiting left, before both drove into the soldier's chest. Behind him lay one already dead.

The young boy sunk to the ground, dry heaving as his stomach tried to empty itself of food and liquid it didn't hold. He had killed another human being. Had taken someone's life. And not just one, but two. The heaving didn't stop. Blood filled the ground surrounding him. Everything was red, red like the life bleeding out of the two victims of his blade.

A pair of arms made their way around his shaking body, dragged him close to the moment when his chin rested on someone's shoulder. His cheek collided with someone else's, sending warmth through his body from the source beside him. Small hands clutched the fabric of the clothes belonging to the other one as the original red haired boy cried loudly into the shoulder of his twin.

The two swords stood forgotten inside the dead soldier.

*~^:^~*

The older one of the two red haired twins held a finger to his other self's lips, signalling to him to stay quiet. They had to be, unless they wanted to be discovered. The darkness that surrounded them made the box seem bigger than it was, as they could not see the edges of anything. The only thing that could be seen was the other one's green eyes as they shined to each other.

It had taken them two days to reach the city from the place where the older one of them had killed two soldiers in defence. Two days since the loss of innocence. Two days since the oldest did sword moves he didn't even know he knew. It had been in a state of panic, and even now he could not remember how he did it. It didn't matter, though. He had done what he meant to do; save the younger one. The one that could hardly be more than seven days old, yet looked like someone at the age of ten and moved like one at the age of four. Nothing more than a young child, and children were meant to be protected.

Just a few hours ago had they reached the city he had seen in the distance, which turned out to be no other than Kaitzur Navel Port, not a city but a _harbour_ on the _Kimlascan _side of the border. And it had a cargo ship leaving for Baticul. The older boy had been overjoyed to hear such good news, and they had snuck around until he found the ship and the cargo they were lifting onto it. It hadn't taken many minutes to clean one completely, throwing the supplies into the sea – it was food from Engeve, judging by the marking on them, and he felt guilty for throwing it away, but he _had_ to go home – and hiding himself and the other one inside the now empty box. Small holes allowed the air to change and save the two boys from suffocating and their journey across the sea toward home lulled them both into sleep.

*~^:^~*

The boys woke as the box they had hid themselves in hit the ground. Loud voices yelled at each other, before dying away as they moved further away from the hiding place. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of seagulls as they squeaked at each other. The lid of the box was lifted by two pairs of identical hands, and four green eyes glanced around, terrified that someone was watching them. They were in a harbour below a city build upwards instead of outwards. Baticul. Home. The older one relaxed his shoulders a little, before watching once more for anyone that could stop them.

When it was confirmed that no one was around, the older one pushed the lid away completely and jumped out. As he was helping his companion to get out of their safety place, one from the ship's crew decided it was a good idea to check on the ship and the cargo, and was rather surprised to find two young boys climbing out of one of the boxes.

"Hey, hey, hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" he shouted, running toward them. The older of the boys grabbed a hold of his companion's hand and dragged him with him as he ran. He had been to the harbour once before, and knew there would be a cable car – the city was filled with cable cars that could take the citizens to the different levels that made up the capital – that could take them away.

They passed the man without him being able to stop them, and made a beeline toward the stairs leading up to the cable car.

"Thieves!" the man shouted as the boys threw themselves into the car and the older one kicked the button making it go upward. The man would be after them as fast as he could, but at least they would have some lead.

Up, they had to go up. The manor – and the castle where Natalia lived – was at the top floor, and it would be a long journey if they were chased by the owners of the ship. The older one led the way as they ran through huge crowds of people busy with their usual work. Lift after lift led them closer to their destination, and the cheerful mood rose the closer they got. The younger one was still unable to say anything, but the smile on his face showed that he knew this meant a lot to his companion.

They reached the top level, and the tall and beautiful castle stood in front of them. Bathed in the light of the sun. The manor was to the left, and it was there the older one was headed.

_I'm finally back. _

_Just a little bit more. _

_If I can get back to the manor in Baticul, everything will return to normal. _

_Right back to normal. _

_Everything will go right back to normal!_

He knew it wouldn't; he had been kidnapped and came back with a boy who looked just like him. And they were both going to stay, no matter what. Both him _and_ the one who needed him.

They passed the guard outside of the manor, who looked too surprised and too shocked to go after them. A quick move opened the door to the entrance hall, and the two boys fell into the room. Someone screamed – most likely a maid – but it didn't matter. Running steps and a door slamming open told them someone had just entered the room. The older one looked up from where he laid on the floor, and jumped into the air as he saw who stood in front of him. He threw his arms around his mother's stomach, and clung to her as if his life depended on it.

"Mother," he whispered, crying into her chest. Something wet landed on the top of his head as his mother buried her face into his red hair.

"Oh, Luke." They cried together, clinging to each other as they stood surrounded by those they held dear. A son who disappeared and a mother who never stopped missing him.

A low cry pulled the two apart, turning their heads toward the entrance. Two of his father's soldiers stood with their backs against the door, holding a young, red haired boy between them.

"Milady, what are we going to do with this one?" the younger boy cried again, one hand held out toward the older one. The one who stood by his mother reached before anyone could recognise the boy held by the soldiers. He ripped him out of their hold and hid him behind his back.

"He's staying here," he said, his eyes lit with a fire they had never seen before, as he pushed the boy toward his mother. She would understand, even if they didn't. No one was going to lay a hand on him; the one who was his replica, his light in all the darkness, his twin, his younger _brother_.

"What is his name, my dear?" his mother asked. The boy blinked, before giving her a soft smile.

"Luke." For Luke was the name of someone innocent, someone who was filled with light, and he was his light, had been from the moment when he killed the two soldiers.

His mother smiled sadly at him. Maybe she understood, maybe not. It didn't matter.

"And your new name is?"

"Asch." Like the ashes left behind by the fire. He had once been Luke, been a light and been innocent, but he had burned out and become ashes.

One had gone missing and two returned.

A light and the ashes of one.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed the prologue of my new story, and hopefully the characters aren't too messed up. **


	2. Chapter 1: It Started With A Song

**A/N: First of all, thank you so much for all the support on the first chapter! Second, like I have said earlier, this will follow the game, and therefore some of the dialogue (probably a lot of it) will be taken from the game. I apologise if you guys don't like that. **

**Also, I am well aware that there are a lot of other stories like this one here on Fanfiction (like Reflections, which happens to be one of my absolute favourite stories on this site), but I will go my own way with my own idea. If something becomes similar, I apologise for that, as it is not my intention to do so. I know how I want this story to go, and I can only hope you will enjoy it and come along on the journey. **

**Once again, I am sincerely sorry for all grammar mistakes. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

**Chapter 1**

**It Started With a Song**

_ND2018_

It had started just like every other normal day at the manor on top of Kimlasca's capital Baticul. The maids had gone from bedroom to bedroom in order to wake the members of the Fabre family, informing them of visitors expected during the day and of the weather outside, before returning to their other duties.

The manor was a grand building with more rooms than anyone cared to count, formed like a horse shoe with a courtyard decorated with a stoneground and water in the middle. Unconnected to the main house, in the space left open, stood two identical, smaller buildings. They separated the courtyard from the garden which otherwise surrounded the manor on all sides beside the front entrance.

A window was open on the back side of the building to the left, letting the warm light from the sun shine into the only room on the inside. It was a lovely weather outside with hardly any clouds to be seen in the sky, leaving the fonstones floating above the land in full sight of everyone who wanted to watch them. Green eyes watched them with a longing gaze from the open window. Red hair moved slightly due to the wind blowing past, but not enough to bother the sky watcher. The red haired one was a young boy at the age of seventeen, the youngest member of the Fabre family. The room he stood in was his bedroom, carefully decorated with plants and paintings to match the light colours of the walls. The light colours had been his mother's idea, and while he didn't really care about it, it had made her happy to be allowed to decide what the room should look like.

The youth turned away from the window and walked toward the door leading out of his bedroom. He had been woken up hours earlier by one of the maids, but had decided to stay inside for the sake of listening to music – he had a pair of gramophones by his bed – instead of going outside. It wasn't like it mattered what he did anyway; the day would turn out just like any other. A normal and boring day in his life.

The youth grabbed his sword and strapped it to the back of his white jacket as he walked by it there it lay on his bed. It felt good just to have the sword close and ready, even though he most likely wouldn't need it inside the manor. It hung on his lower back, with the hilt sticking out to the left so he could easily grip it.

The boy was about to take a hold on the doorknob when a strange sound stopped him. He threw a wondering look around the room before frowning slightly. Nothing out of the usual was in sight and the gramophones had been off for a while, so he doubted they were guilty.

… _Guess I'm hearing things. _Probably. He had had headaches as long as he could remember, and strange sounds had occurred before together with them. The boy shook his head before reaching for the doorknob once more.

The youth looked around for any familiar faces the moment he stepped outside of his door. To the right side stood a building that was the twin of the one he had just walked out of, quiet and peaceful in the summer sun. The boy grinned. If he was really quiet, and lucky, maybe he could get revenge for the bucket of water that fell over his head yesterday morning. A loud scream right after entering should work well enough.

Filled with eager, the youth ran down the stairs from his bedroom and turned toward his destination. He would have been there in a few seconds, and probably carried out the revenge too, had he not almost collided with an old man working with the flowers growing in the middle of the two twin buildings. The red haired boy stopped just in time, and as a result the old man stood up from his work. He was dressed in the uniform of the manors gardeners, with all the necessary tools close at hand.

"Hello, Master Luke," he said, a tone of surprise in his voice as he bowed for the young lord, "nice weather we're having today." Luke, albeit a little disappointed he had been stopped, smiled at the old man.

"Digging in the dirt again today, Pere? Don't you get bored doing that every single day?" he knew he himself would be.

"Not at all. This is my job," the old man said, smiling back at the youth, "nothing makes me happier than to see the flowers I grow warm the hearts of this manor's inhabitants." Luke watched the white flowers growing right beside him. They were rather nice, and he knew his mother cared a lot for them. However, they would never be enough to make the days at the manor more interesting.

"No offense, but I'm bored as all hell of this manor. I want my freedom." Just like the fonstones in the sky, free to float wherever they wanted to. Not that he had ever seen them change position. Okay, so not free like the fonstones. More like the birds.

The thoughts made Luke miss the sad look Pere gave him.

"Yes, I can understand how being forbidden to leave the manor would cause you to feel that way," forbidden to leave when everyone else could come and go as they pleased, "but it's an order from His Majesty himself. You just need to wait a little longer… until you come of age," the old man laughed softly, "I'm sure you're used to these flowers by now, but I still hope they can warm your heart." Luke opened his mouth to answer, just for his words to fade from his mind as he heard a door open and the sound of footsteps on stone. Only one word, a name, remained while he watched the newcomer approach them.

"Asch!"

"Good morning, Master Asch."

Asch fon Fabre stopped the moment he reached the duo, crimson red hair blowing around him from the sudden lack of movement. Even after all the years Pere had worked at the manor, the similarity between the two red heads still shocked him. They were just too identical for their own good: The same height, weight, green eyes and sizes. Even the lengths of their hairs were the same – all the way down their backs.

Yet there were a few outside differences one could use to separate them from each other. Luke had a lighter red colour on his hair with golden edges and spikes that covered the top his head and hung down in his eyes, while Asch's was darker and the spikes were pulled straight back to keep them away from his face. The darker haired one also kept his sword on his left side. The easiest way to tell them apart, however, was to look at the way they dressed. The clothes were almost identical too, but small differences and choice of colours made it possible for others to separate them. Both wore jackets which covered the back of their legs, but Asch had the front of his reach all the way down to his hips, while Luke only had three buttons at the top and showed off the muscles covering his stomach. Dark grey with red linings for the oldest, and white with yellow lining for the youngest.

"Good morning, Luke, Pere," Asch smiled friendly to them as he came to a halt.

"I hope this idiot doesn't bother you, Pere," he said, giving the other red haired boy a sharp look. Luke crossed his arms and glared at the flowers. He wasn't bothering Pere, and now the surprise attack he had planned for his older twin brother could no longer be fulfilled, not that day at least. Why did Asch _always_ have to come at the wrong time?

The older red haired one seemed to notice his younger brother's irritation, for his green eyes moved from Pere to Luke.

"Awake so early, Luke? I was sure we would have to use the bucket again to get you up before dinner." The younger one glared all he could at his twin, which probably looked pathetic because the other one only laughed and ruffled his already spiky hair as he passed him by, heading for the main building.

"Asch, where are you going?" Luke asked as he twisted around to follow his brother, giving a small wave of goodbye to Pere as he left. The older one kept walking straight forward in a fast tempo, but slowed down just enough for his brother to catch up with him without having to run.

"The castle." Luke gave him an evil grin.

"Natalia made you come to look at her dresses again?" He could have sworn Asch turned a little red by his words, and the younger of the two made sure to keep himself out of his brother's reach. Asch loved the princess, he knew that, but he also knew his brother would never say such a thing, no matter how engaged and in love the oldest Fabre boy and the princess were.

"It's none of your business."

The duo reached the entrance hall. Asch stopped not too far away from the door leading out of the manor, green eyes falling on his younger brother.

"Luke, I'm…"

"It's fine. Sheesh, whatever. Say hello to Natalia for…"

"Young Masters." Both boys turned around at the sound of the titles, eyes widening as they saw Ramdas, an older man with hair formed like the horns of a ram, coming towards them.

"The Order of Lorelei Maestro, Dorian General Van Grants will be arriving soon."

"What?" though the reaction of shouting out the word was similar from both the red heads, the rest were quite opposite of each other. While Luke almost jumped up and down with excitement, Asch gained a suspicious and serious look on his face. The younger one had never understood why the other one didn't like their Master very much – he hardly worked at all to hide those feelings – and whenever he asked, the older one would never answer. That didn't stop him from being excited, though, or from asking Ramdas more questions.

"Master Van's coming? Today's not a training day." Asch had crossed his arms and seemed more and more unpleased as the seconds went by.

"I've heard he's here on urgent business. I was told they'll be calling the two of you later, Young Masters, so please wait in your rooms," the man focused his attention on Asch, "I'm sorry, Young Master, but the Princess will have to wait for the time being." Asch cursed under his breath, an action only heard by Luke. He frowned, but kept from asking. He knew better than to ask at times like this. Especially with someone around. Instead, another thing stirred up in his memories from just seconds ago.

"Stop calling us "young" already," he said, crossing his arms and glaring at Ramdas. The older man turned his attention away from Asch and raised his eyebrows at the younger one instead.

"No, until you reach maturity at age 20, I shall continue to refer to you as Young Masters." Luke was about to give a reply when the other red head gripped his right arm and dragged him toward the hallway. A discussion with Ramdas would just bring them trouble anyway, and Asch had had enough of those for a lifetime. However, the older man wasn't done with them just yet, and had no intentions of letting them go without saying what was on his mind.

"Young Masters…" he called after them, "please stop fraternizing with that gardener, Pere. It isn't fit for you to speak to one of his status."

"We know, we know," Asch answered as he pushed his brother out of the door.

*~^:^~*

"What does it matter to Ramdas who we speak to?" Luke walked restlessly around his bedroom, too annoyed to sit down on the bed like Asch did. They had both decided to stay together until they were called to the drawing room, and Luke's bedroom was the most inviting one – Asch's was painted in dark colours, the opposite of his brother's.

"We're nobles, Luke. Some find it unfitting for nobles to talk to servant," Asch answered, watching Luke walk back and forth. The younger one stopped suddenly, glaring at his brother.

"That doesn't stop us from hanging out with Guy," he said, crossing his arms. The older one felt the corners of his mouth pull upward.

"It doesn't," he confirmed as he stood up, considering whether he should turn on some music or not. That might calm his irritated younger brother down a little. He knew it wasn't the thing with Ramdas that bothered the other red head the most, but it was the only thing he could say out loud.

A strange sound crashed through his head, causing the older teen to lift both hands to his head and bowing down. Twice in a day, that wasn't usual.

_Asch… Luke… Fragments… Of my soul… Heed… Voice. _Words, that was just as unusual as a headache twice in a day. What the hell? Asch could hear Luke's knees hit the ground on the other side of the bed, but the sudden pain stopped him from turning around.

"Luke! Asch! What is it? Not another one of those headaches?" the pain disappeared when the familiar voice reached him. Asch straightened up as his head cleared and threw a look toward the window. There, leaning against the wall in the window sill, stood a blond, young man who watched them both with worried eyes. The older red head shook his head. Guy Cecil had rather unusual entrance methods, he was well aware of that, and judging by Luke's lack of reaction, the window was probably a normal one. Whenever Asch hung out with them – when he wasn't at the castle or busy with something else – the red haired duo would go look for the other one. It seemed other rules applied when he wasn't around.

"It's okay. It's gone," Luke said, finally getting up from the floor. Asch looked his younger brother over with a quick gaze to make sure everything was fine with him, before returning the attention to the blond man.

Guy had been hired as Asch's – or Luke's, since that had been his name then – babysitter when he was still a small child, and they had grown to become good friends – in his opinion, at least – over the years. It had also been Guy's responsibility to watch over Luke when the youngest came to the manor seven years ago. He was a servant at the household, but also a friend both boys cared about.

"You two hearing things again?" Guy asked, receiving identical nods from the twins.

"I wish I knew what the hell it was. It's so annoying," Luke said, staring past Guy and out on the blue sky beyond them.

"They're getting more frequent. They started after you were kidnapped by the Malkuth Empire. What's that, seven years now?" Guy was looking at Asch as he spoke, his words more aimed at him than at Luke. Asch gave him a grateful nod in return. The blond servant had played along with his little lie since the very beginning. Luckily, the younger one didn't seem to notice where their friend was looking, nor the nod from his brother. If he did, it would just lead to unanswerable questions. Best to get the attention elsewhere before Luke thought things over and asked something stupid.

"It doesn't matter. What do you want, Guy?" Asch said, walking around the bed to stand by his brother's side. The blond grinned and jumped down from the window sill, all worries forgotten at the moment.

"I was wondering if you two wanted to do something today. How about some sword practice?" Being five years older than them and trained in a rather unusual fighting style with the sword, Guy would always make an interesting opponent on the training grounds. He hardly lost to the twins when they fought, and Asch had a feeling the other one never went all out against them.

"We have a meeting to attend to and I have to go to the castle later, so not today," the oldest of the twins said, throwing their friend an apologising look.

"Master Van's here," Luke followed up with, the excitement rising in him again. Guy frowned.

"Van? But today's not a training day, is it?"

"Urgent business," the crimson haired one explained. The blond servant's face grew serious and wondering.

A knock on the door stopped them from going deeper into the matter.

"Master Luke? May I come in?" one of the maid's voice sounded from the other side of the door. The trio exchanged slightly panicked looks, before rushing toward the open window. Guy was not allowed to be in their rooms, and if the maid saw him there she was sure to go to Ramdas. That would just give all three of them more problems than they wanted. The blond man jumped up in the sill and turned to the twins with one last look.

"I'm out of here before I get caught. See you," he whispered as he jumped out and ran through the garden in the opposite direction. Asch, who had been ready to push the blond out if necessary, closed the window. Both boys breathed out air they didn't knew they had been holding inside. Their father could give quite the scolding if he found his sons doing things they weren't supposed to do, and fraternizing with the servants was one of those.

The maid knocked once more, calling out for the one whose bedroom both twins stood in.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Come on in, it's open," Luke answered, throwing one last look at the window to make sure their friend was gone. The maid opened the door, took two steps inside and bowed. As she straightened up again, her eyes landed on the older twin and a slight blush covered her cheeks.

"Ah, Master Asch!" the mentioned one nodded as a greeting, signalling for the maid to continue.

"His Grace requested your presence in the drawing room, the both of you," she said, still a bit flushed for not noticing her other master right away.

"All right. Dismissed." She bowed again and closed the door behind her as she left the room, leaving the boys to their thoughts before they too headed outside to the warm sun.

*~^:^~*

"You wanted to see us, Father?" Asch said as he opened the door to the drawing room and walked in, holding the door open for Luke, who came right behind him. Both their parents and Van was to be seen sitting around the table in the middle of the room, apparently waiting for the two boys to arrive. Their father watched them from his usual spot at the left end of the table, with their mother on his right side and Van Grants on the left, leaving the two chairs furthest away from him empty.

"Mmm. Have a seat, Asch, Luke," he said, nodding toward the two empty chairs. They both hurried over to the table, where the Asch sat down in the chair beside their master and Luke by their mother. The younger one kept looking from his brother to their master, a bit uneasy due to the way his twin glared at Van. He didn't want them to fight as they were both important persons in his life, but knew better than to get between them. Whatever was going on was their deal, not his. Besides, if Master Van was at the manor, they might be able to practice later when Asch had gone to the castle. It would be worth a try to ask, at least. That might drag Asch's glare away from their Master as well.

"Hey! Master Van! Do I get to train with you today?" the youngest red head said, grinning widely to the man at the other side of the table. His father might not approve of him bringing up such a thing at the beginning of what appeared to be an important discussion, but it would keep Asch and the Master from each other's throats. Well, it would keep Asch from their Master's, was probably a more right thing to say.

Van returned the cheerful smile of his apprentice with his own. "We'll have time for that later. First, we have to talk about something," he said, his eyes moving back and forth between the two boys. The oldest had sunk back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest, while the younger had an eager look in his eyes, hoping the meeting would finish soon.

"Dorian General Grants is returning to Daath tomorrow," the Duke said. The twins straightened up in their chairs, two pair of green eyes watching the leader of the family.

"Huh? Why?" Luke almost rose to his feet, eyes traveling from Master Van to his father. The only reason he stayed in his place was because of the sharp look Asch sent him.

"You know that I am a member of the Oracle Knights, part of the Order of Lorelei," the Dorian General answered with, waiting patiently for the boy to calm down. The older of the boys had no intention of saying anything at all and stayed quiet in his chair. If they wanted to let his brother bother the General, then so be it. He knew how much the training sessions with their master meant to the other; it was the only thing he had to do when Asch was at the castle with Natalia and Guy worked. And while the older of the twins might not trust or like Van at all – not after the whole kidnapping part, but who would after something like that -, but if Luke was happy, who was he to deny his brother that?

"As the leader of the Knights, it's my duty to provide protection for Fon Master Ion." Asch blinked. Had Luke answered or asked something he missed? It didn't matter. At least his younger brother knew who Fon Master Ion was; he had beaten that into his thick skull some weeks ago as a part of their lessons. Fon Master Ion, the leader of the Order of Lorelei, whose predecessor had ended the Hod war and created the truce between the Malkuth Empire and the Kingdom of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear. For many he was the very symbol of the peace. Asch had never met the Fon Master himself, but he had heard many good things about him.

"Unfortunately, Ion has gone missing." His father's words gained the older twin's attention. Ion was missing? That might become a serious problem, especially if something happened to the Fon Master.

"Therefore, I must attend to my duty as an Oracle Knight and join the search for Fon Master Ion," Van continued. So it was for that urgent business he had come to the manor. The Fon Master was missing and because of that Van couldn't stay and train them for the time being. For reasons unknown, their father had also wanted his two boys to know of this instead of just telling them that Van wouldn't be back for a while.

Luke wanted to disagree with his Master's decision of going back to his home, wanted him to stay and train them, but knew better than to do so. Fon Master Ion was someone _important_ – Asch had explained that rather well some weeks before – and for those reasons he needed to be found and protected. Besides, Asch would be angry with him if he voiced his desire for their Master to stay.

Master Van must have seen that the boy looked a little down by his sudden departure, for he sent him a reassuring smile. "Cheer up, Luke. We'll train hard enough today to make up for the entire time I'm gone," he stood up, "Duke, Milady; by your leave. We must begin our training." Asch and Luke followed his actions, though the older one started to head in the direction of the entrance.

"I'm going to the castle," he announced as he reached the door. Luke was about to call after him, but stopped as his brother disappeared from sight. Four pairs of eyes watched the door close behind the future king. Van laid a comforting hand on his apprentice's right shoulder.

"I'll head on to the courtyard. Come join me as soon as you're ready," he said, before bowing to the Duke and his wife and disappearing from the room by the door the twins had entered through earlier. Luke stood still for a few seconds, before he turned to follow his sword instructor.

"Luke, dear, please do be careful out there," his mother called after him, earning a warm smile from her youngest son as he turned his head toward her.

"I know, I know."

*~^:^~*

Asch found himself lost in thoughts as he sat on a sofa in Natalia's bed chambers. He didn't like to leave Luke alone with Van, but hopefully Guy would be close enough to keep an eye on the younger red head. To keep him out of trouble. Asch didn't trust Van, and he didn't trust his intentions when it came to his younger brother, his replica.

After all these seven years since the red haired duo arrived in the manors entrance hall, Asch had yet to tell anyone what had happened during his abduction. Nobody knew it wasn't Malkuth that had kidnapped him and nobody knew the truth about Luke. That was the way he wanted it, and he would do almost anything to keep it like that.

His mother had been rather understanding when her son told her the other one was his younger brother. She had just accepted and talked his father into adopting the replica. An outstanding and amazing woman, his mother. He didn't think many would say yes to something like that. She had even agreed to his plan of making Luke believe he had always been here and that he was Asch's blood twin, just with a strong case of amnesia – all his memories up to age ten was gone due to the kidnapping of _both_ boys. Together they had gotten everyone to play along, even Father, the King, Natalia and Guy. It was cruel, perhaps, but it was the only solution the ten year old Asch had been able to come up with. But all lies become exposed someday, and he feared the moment it would happen. He wasn't ready to explain, wasn't ready to tell the truth. Because if anyone became aware of the truth, Luke might be taken away. Fomicry on human beings was forbidden, and Asch didn't want anyone to experiment on his younger brother for the sake of science, which was a possibility if the truth came out.

He hadn't saved Luke from death and killed for his sake just to see the boy taken away from him and most likely die as a cause. Sure, he had taken him from one prison to another – Luke was forbidden to leave the manor because of the lie, Asch was allowed to go to the castle, but no further due to fear of him being kidnapped again -, but this was a prison of safety, not one of pain. None the less, he felt guilty for it whenever he left the manor and his younger brother behind.

The fear of losing one of his important people – his brother had become so when they travelled together back to Baticul – was what kept him from telling his parents that Van had been behind the kidnapping. Because if he blamed Van, the man would most likely tell what he had done and what Luke was, which would lead to the replica being taken away. And that was the last thing he wanted, next to losing Natalia.

"Asch!" the sharp voice of the young princess ripped him out of his thoughts. She stood right in front of him, her short, blond hair bathed in the sunlight coming in through the windows of her chambers. He gave her a weak smile.

"Sorry?" the princess rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips.

"I asked you what you think of the dress I just showed you," she said impatiently. The red haired boy tried to think back to find out which dress she spoke of, but none came to mind.

"It was… nice?" worth a try, even if she would scold him for not paying attention. He waited for her voice to rise and scream his ears off – he loved her quite dearly, but she could be so _loud_ sometimes.

It never came.

Instead, she sat down beside him on the sofa, her eyes watching something in the distant.

"I'm sure Luke's fine," she said, a warm smile on her face. The boy was taken off guard. How had she known he was thinking of his brother?

_Resound…! The will of Lorelei shall reach you… and open the way!_ The strange, yet somehow familiar voice made the red haired youth jump up and off the sofa. Natalia made a move to stand too, but stopped as a bright light shined in through the window. Two pairs of eyes watched as something shoot out from the manor below them and towards the sky. Asch tried to piece things together – what was that light, what had caused it, and was that a song he heard? -, and kept staring long after the light had died away. He didn't know how much time passed between the light the sudden knock on the door behind the couple, it didn't matter anyway.

The red haired boy didn't know which maid came in to them, didn't bother to look behind him, but the words she spoke sent a shiver down his spine and kept floating through his head for days later.

"Master Luke disappeared."

The hand of the clock ticking down towards the time he wanted to avoid had started to move.

*~^:^~*

**A/N:I apologise if the characters are very OOC. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. **


	3. Chapter 2: Nighttime in the Valley

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of the Abyss. **

**Chapter 2**

**Nighttime in the Valley**

Luke felt like he was floating in a never ending darkness. Something had happened, and while he couldn't remember exactly what, he knew it had something to do with Master Van. The youth tried to sort through the memories that kept bubbling up in his mind. Had it been like this the last time he lost his memories, all those years ago?

He had gone to the courtyard to train with Master Van, that he remembered. Guy had been there too, talking with Master Van about something serious, though he had been too late to hear the entire conversation. Something about his father, uncle, Asch and him, but he knew no more than that. Then there was this strange song he had heard, one that made him sleepy and tired. Pere had called it a fonic hymn, whatever that was. That's right. Pere had been there as well, watching over his beloved flowers with an honest fondness.

And so had that brown haired chick who had arrived out of nowhere and attacked Master Van with the intention of killing him. He had gone between them to stop her, an action which had caused sparks to appear from their colliding weapons – his sword and her rod. The strange voice from earlier the same day had been there too, sounding through his head.

Then it had all gone white, before fading into the very darkness he found himself floating in. Was he dead? No, he doubted that as he could feel something cold beneath his hands. There was also this strange, yet nice smell he had not encountered before. He must have been knocked out by that white light and carried to his bedroom, where his mother had changed the flowers. That would explain a lot of things.

"… Luke… Wake up…" a voice called, fuzzy and unclear. It wasn't the strange one he had heard twice before this whole thing started, but yet not a familiar voice. Probably a new maid yet to be taught the proper manners of the manor, or maybe he was so far away that even Asch's voice sounded weird.

"… Wake up, Luke!" He tried to, more than anything else. Not waking up when ordered to meant a cruel punishment like the bucket of water from yesterday. Though that had probably been an answer to Luke "accidentally" pushing Asch into the water surrounding the courtyard a couple of days earlier. The young noble hadn't meant to, of course, it had just sort of happened. Had definitely not been revenge for Asch tripping him in the drawing room some time prior to the accident.

Once Luke managed to open his eyes, he became aware of three things as he stared straight into blue eyes covered with brown hair.

The first was that he was in the company of the brown haired chick who had tried to assassinate his Master.

The second thing was that he was no longer in Baticul and the strange smell came from the flowers all around him.

And third, Asch and Guy were going to kill him once he returned home. They hardly ever let him out of their sights to begin with.

Where in the world was he, anyway? It was night – he could see the stars above his head and the world was dark -, yet the white flowers around him bloomed like it was in the middle of the day.

Green eyes moved to the brown haired woman who kneeled beside him. She knew his name, probably because Master Van or Guy had called it out as he attacked her, while he knew next to nothing about her beside the fact that she tried to kill Master Van _and_ took him somewhere outside the manor.

"Who are you?" he wasn't surprised to find himself asking her that question. After all, he didn't even know her _name_. She could be dangerous, a murderer even. She had seemed that way when she first appeared.

"Oh, good, you're okay." Not the answer he wanted. She seemed worried, though.

"Where are we?" the girl shrugged slightly.

"I don't know. That was pretty strong," she was probably referring to the lights or whatever had happened between them, "I almost thought we'd been caught in the Planet Storm." He blinked, a single thought falling into his head.

"Wait, that's right!" he shouted, gripping her shoulders – so small, though that hardly mattered at this point – in a tight hold. How could the memory he _knew_ he had been thinking about just seconds earlier escape him so fast? "You were trying to…! Ow!" a sudden pain in his chest made the boy remove his hands from her shoulders and pull them, together his right knee, to the source of the discomfort. The girl hovered by his left side, trying to get a look to see what had hurt him.

"Stop, don't try to move so suddenly," she commanded, her hands moving toward his chest, "are you injured? Where does it hurt?" Luke pushed her hands away as he rose from the ground and ran a few steps away from her. Asch had told him to be careful around strangers – something he always said once unfamiliar faces came to the manor – and he had no intention of forgetting that.

"I-I'm fine." That was a lie; it still hurt a little. "What I want to know now is what the hell happened. And who are you?" hopefully she would answer him this time.

"I'm Tear," the girl said as she too stood up and walked away from where they had been located. Within a few seconds she was standing right in front of the boy. "It would seem that a hyperresonance occurred between us."

"A hyperresonance? What's that?" he was starting to get rather sceptic towards this Tear girl, and was that an annoyed release of breath he heard from her?

"An isofon-induced resonance. I didn't expect you to be a Seventh Fonist, too. That was careless of me," Tear placed her hands on her hip and leaned towards the red haired youth, "that would explain why the royal family is protecting you." She was too close, causing the boy to run away from her until a few metres separated them. Too close and speaking words he didn't understand. No one had ever explained to him what an isofon was, or a hyperresonance or Seventh Fonist for that matter. Maybe he had known once, before he lost his memories.

"Shut up for a second! I don't understand a thing you're saying!" he shouted, the frustration inside him breaking free of what little hold he had had around it. The girl stayed silent and watched him with those blue eyes of hers with a stare he couldn't decipher. It was so different from the one he usually got from those back at the manor.

The two stood in silence for a short moment, before the slightly frustrated redhead opened his mouth again.

"Well say something!" he yelled, eyes fixed on the girl. She could at least explain some more.

"First you tell me to shut up, now you're telling me to talk," Tear wore an annoyed look as she watched him, one he almost missed as she turned around, "let's save the discussion for later. You don't seem to know anything. Talking here would be a waste of time," she said as she started to walk away from the flower field. Luke, afraid of being left all by himself in this strange place, followed her quickly.

"So what are we gonna do now?" he asked, hoping his companion had an answer.

"I'll escort you back to your manor in Baticul," Tear kept walking as she spoke, her back to him. The words made him stop. After seven years since the kidnapping he was finally on the outside of the manor, out in the world he had longed to see for so long. Did he really want to go back so quickly? He didn't think so, at least. Tear might even turn out to be great company for this little adventure, though at the moment she was just annoying, almost like Natalia and all her nagging. Not that he would ever say something like that to the young princess, not as long as his brother was around.

The thought of Asch made him miss home a little. His twin had always been there with him, and not having him around felt weird. Besides, it was a little unfair of him to travel around on the outside while leaving his brother with only the manor and castle. Especially since Asch too longed to see the world. As far as he knew, the road home might even be long and take time.

Which left him with another question for the girl he travelled with.

"How? We don't even know where we are!" Tear turned around, her eyes still filled with a slight annoyance, and pointed at something behind him.

"You see the sea just over there, don't you?" she asked. The red haired youth followed her pointing finger, green eyes widening as they fell on the dark blue water on the other side of the flower field behind him, just visible between two cliffs. It seemed so quiet and peaceful there it lay bathed in moonlight. The sea, something he couldn't remember. Asch said he had seen it once, but he had no memories of that.

"So that's what the sea looks like…" he muttered slightly amazed. It seemed beautiful, just like those strange flowers blooming in the middle of the night.

"At any rate, let's head out of this ravine and down to the coast. If we can find a road, there should be carriages passing along. We should be able to find a way back," the girl didn't seem to have heard the boy's words, and if so she had decided not to say anything about them.

"And just how are we supposed to get to the sea from here?" Luke asked as he turned back to face the girl, who's back was turned towards him once more.

"Stop and listen. Hear that water flowing? There's a river. If we follow the river, we should come out to the sea," she explained, somewhat annoyed if he could judge by the tone of her voice. Just like Asch' if he asked too much about something that should be plainly obvious. That was unfair. He had never been outside the manor since his memory loss, so how could something like this be plainly obvious?

"Huh. Is that how it works?" the girl walked away instead of answering, leaving the boy to catch up to her and finally leaving the flower field behind.

*~^:^~*

When Tear Grants decided to attack her older brother Van during his stay at the Fabre Manor, she had never expected to end up somewhere completely unknown to her with the son of Duke Fabre for company. As she had never meant to involve him in the first place, helping him back to the manor seemed like the right thing to do. He appeared so lost and helpless when he asked her questions about what should be common knowledge to anyone. Maybe the Duke had believed it unnecessary for his son to learn? Who was she to know how nobles raised their children.

At least he could protect himself somehow with the sword he carried on his back. They had run into quite a few monsters since they started to follow the river they had heard from the flower field, and she had yet to protect him from their attacks. Her healing fonic artes had turned out useful, for while the redhead knew how to use the sword, he was far from an expert and still lacked good foot work. Small injuries appeared from time to time, but luckily none was fatal.

The Duke's son was also quieter than she had expected. Born and raised in a noble family, she had thought he would complain and whine more. Of course, sometimes he would whine about food and clothes, but it was long between each time. He always kept himself a few steps behind her, obviously watching her if she could judge by the feeling of eyes glaring at her back.

"So, are you going to tell me why you broke into the manor, or why you attacked Master Van, or… anything?" he asked once during their journey through the forest surrounding the river they followed. It was an unavoidable series of questions, one she knew he would ask. Yet she had no desire to tell him the truth just yet.

"I don't see any point in telling you and I doubt you'd understand, anyway. Besides, what would you do if I did tell you?" she answered as she turned around to face her companion. His eyes were filled with distrust and curiosity.

"I just figured if you're plotting something, it might be kind of risky to travel with you," he said, So he wasn't completely naïve and knew to be doubtful of strangers. Whoever had taught him that had done a remarkable job, leaving the boy with a lot of questions and little trust for those who might answer him. At least so it appeared to her. Not that she could blame him either; she _had_ taken him away from home unwillingly, even if it had been an accident.

Either way, the whole event made her laugh for the first time in quite some time. His doubtfulness as the most likely reaction of anyone, yet she had expected him to trust her from the beginning.

"Hey, what are you laughing at?" Luke shouted, glaring at her from behind his long, red bangs that covered parts of his face. Tear put a hand to her mouth in a try to stop her laughter.

"I'm sorry. Don't worry, I have no intention of harming you," she gave him a light smile, "that's all I can tell you for now, but… will you trust me?" there, it might fix a little of his doubtfulness. The redhead stood still for a few seconds as he considered her offer, before he made a wavelike moment with his right hand.

"Fine, fine. It's just the two of us… There's no point in fighting, anyway."

After their little conversation and trust exchange – from him to her – they walked in silence once more. Tear still felt guilty for taking him away from everything he held dear, away from his family and friends. She would do everything in her power to bring him back safely, and hopefully that would be enough for them to arrive safely at Baticul. The way he chose to stay silent instead of speaking also added to her already heavy burden. She would have liked it better if he had spoken some more, even if it was just to brag about his mother or father or complain about his clothes getting all dirty.

"I'm sorry…I'll get you back to your manor," she said all of a sudden, causing the steps behind her to disappear.

"You damn well better!" came the answer from the boy behind her. Despite the yelling, he didn't sound too eager to get back to the manor. How strange, especially since he probably longed home. Tear stopped and moved so that they stood face to face.

"It's my fault, after all… I'm very sorry," she apologised as she bowed slightly, using all she knew about courtesy. As she straightened up again, she could have sworn she saw a hint of red across the boy's cheeks.

"Yeah… Well, I don't get out all that often anyway, so I guess a little walking around won't hurt," he muttered, staring toward the darkness on the left side. A tiny smile formed across her lips. Too shy and embarrassed to look at her, eh? That was a little cute, really.

His answer, on the other hand, did open for asking about some of the things that had been on her mind since his yelling.

"So… Do you want to go home or not?" That one just dragged out the boy's anger once more.

"Of course I want to go home! What the hell kind of a question is that?" he shouted, though it had taken a few seconds before the answer came. Tear started moving again, this time refusing to gain anger at a question asked out of curiosity over all the implications in his actions.

"Then stop talking and start moving. If you want to go for a stroll, wait until we're someplace safer," she told him, listening for the sound of footsteps following her. He muttered something again, but his voice disappeared in the darkness and made it impossible for her to hear exactly what he had said.

Had it not been for the pale moonlight shining through the treetops at some points, the whole forest would have been completely dark and left it hard for the duo to keep track of where the river went. The sounds of animals kept following them wherever they went, leaving them both alerted in case of a surprise attack.

"I don't like this place. It's all dark, you can't see anything, there are monsters everywhere," Luke whispered as he came up at Tear's left side, finally tired of walking behind her. He kept moving his gaze from side to side in a steady pace, trying to focus at the things they could not see.

"Once you leave the safety of town, monsters can appear anywhere. This is no different from anywhere else," the brown haired girl explained, "and as for the darkness, well… It's nighttime. There's not much I can do about that." Honestly, had he expected her to just jump up and make the sun shine again? She could do fonic artes, but not even they could do something as miraculous as that.

"Well, yeah, but I mean, I get out for the first time in years, and as soon as I open my eyes, it's all dark with monsters all over the place. What's up with that?" the monsters also seemed to have a nose for tracking him especially, as they attacked him far more often than they attacked her.

"Maybe right now it is dark and eerie and full of monsters, but…I still think it's a pretty place. I mean, I've never been around this much… Nature…" her birthplace had been nothing like this forest, and she loved the feeling for freedom and purity that it gave off. This place had yet to be touched by the creations of humanity, and for that single reason she loved the place even more.

*~^:^~*

Luke was ready to fall face first into the dirty below him. The air seemed stuck in his throat, treating to close everything together. He had not thought that last monster would be so hard to defeat and leave him so out of breath.

"We should be safe now that we've made it this far…" he pushed out between deep breaths of air. Sweet, sweet air. If it would just stop blocking the way in and down to his much air needing lungs.

The duo had just fought a piglike monster – Tear had called it a Rhinossus, whatever that was – and crossed the river with the use of a fallen tree. Water had soaked the end of his jacket and trousers, but the lack of oxygen to his head stopped him from whining about it. The only thing that mattered was to suck in that sweet air even if it just got stuck.

"Um, Luke…" Tear's voice made it through to him somehow, even if he wasn't quite sure how. She didn't sound half as bad as he felt.

"Wh…what?" he managed between the breaths.

"Please try to choose your battles. My healing artes only go so far. If you're not careful, we could both die. Even enemies that move quickly… Are you listening?" how the hell did she have enough air to _lecturing _him right now after that battle? Not that he had any intentions of dying; he couldn't leave everyone just yet. Besides, it would piss Asch off, and a pissed off Asch was the last thing he wanted to deal with.

"Lecturing… Later… Need to… Breathe…" he got out between the breaths, before he collapsed towards the ground.

"It's hopeless…" he head Tear say, but it hardly mattered. He was far too exhausted to care.

"There's the way out!" his companion yelled all of a sudden, causing the half dead boy to jump right back up at his feet. Soon out of this dreadful forest. He could collapse then and leave her to drag him along.

"It's about time. I'm sick of this place," he said, trying to regain some of his posture. He tried to take some steps toward the exit of this nightmare, only to be stopped by Tear's upheld hand.

"Someone's coming," she whispered, signalling for him to be silent and stand still. He followed her signals, stopping right by her side. A man carrying a bucket appeared in front of the duo, and stopped fast once his eyes fell on them.

"Uah! D-don't tell me you're with the Dark Wings!" he shouted, taking a few steps backwards to make more space between them. The unlikely duo exchanged a look.

"The Dark Wings?" Tear asked, for once just as clueless about something as Luke was. The man seemed to calm down a little, but he still kept the distance between them.

"They're bandits. Two men and a woman… Wait, there's only two of you." The red haired boy filled his cheeks with air. To think that this man called the Duke's son a bandit! He had heard more than enough about this nonsense.

"Don't go comparing me to some pathetic bandit," he said angrily, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the man in front of him. Tear gave him a short gaze from the corner of her eye.

"Yes, you might upset the bandits," she told the man, keeping her face calm as the boy beside her yelled and placed his hands on his hips. He was mad and didn't enjoy her joking about him like that, but right now she could not afford to care about something so small. She had needed him to be silent, and it had worked perfectly.

"We lost our way and wound up here. Who are you?" she asked the man as she walked towards him. He didn't take a step back to keep her away and instead let her come closer.

"I'm a coachman. One of the wheels on my coach started acting up," he explained, still keeping both eyes on the duo in front of him, "we lost our drinking water when the jug fell off, so I came here to draw some more," he lifted the bucket into the air as if to prove the truth in his words. Luke, however, had only heard one word among the many the coachman had spoken.

"A coach! Perfect!" Had they not hoped to meet one once they found their way out of the forest? It could not have been more perfect.

"Do you go to the capital?" Tear asked, keeping both blue eyes locked on the coachman as he filled the bucket with some water from the river they had just crossed.

"Yeah, that's my last stop," he answered while he checked if everything was okay with the bucket and the water inside of it. Luke felt newfound eager rise inside of him. He could be home faster than he had expected. Maybe he would be back before the manor sent out a searching party – for he was sure they would do that, for was he not the son of a Duke?

"Let's hitch a ride! I'm sick of walking," he told Tear. Hopefully she would take the opportunity to get them both back to the manor quickly. She watched him with those blue eyes of hers, before turning her attention back to the coachman.

"Yes, we don't know this area very well. Would that be all right if we came with you all the way to the capital?" she asked him. The coachman lifted his right hand to his mouth and thought it over, before lowering his hands to his side, still holding the bucket in his left hand.

"To the capital, it'll be 12,000 Gald a piece. You got enough on you?"

"That's expensive," Tear said, sounding slightly defeated. Judging by her tone, they would probably have to walk all the way. To Luke, 12,000 Gald didn't sound so much at all. He was pretty sure that was how much Mother took with her when she went to the lower levels of the city.

"Really? Sound cheap to me. My dad'll take care of it when we get to the capital," he said, confident filling his voice. Surely his father would pay to get his son back. He couldn't believe he wouldn't. The coachman, on the other hand, shook his head.

"That's no good. I need payment in advance," he said. Tear lifted her hands to her neck, before holding her right hand out to the coachman.

"Take this," she said, opening her palm for the man to see the beautiful necklace she held. He had to take a step forward out of curiosity of the item she showed him.

"Wow, this is some gem. All right, hop aboard," he said, taking it from her and signalling for them to follow him.

Luke stared from the item in the man's hand to Tear and back again. She was dressed in some sort of a uniform from top to toe, and that necklace didn't match it at all.

"You got some nice stuff. Are you sure that's okay?" his mother – and Natalia – had told him necklaces usually were precious to the girls who owned them, and Tear didn't wear anything else of the sort. She gave him a strict look.

"What's more important is to get you back to Baticul. It might have been an important necklace, but this is my duty," she said coldly as she turned to follow the coachman toward his coach.

Luke stared after the girl for some seconds.

"But… You're supposed to protect what's important," he muttered as he followed after them.

*~^:^~*

**A/N: Hopefully, Luke isn't too messed up. I can't have him the same as in the game at this point, as I do not believe Asch would allow him to become as spoiled and bratish. Hope you enjoyed it, anyway. ^^**


	4. Chapter 3: The Grocers' Hamlet, Engeve

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of the Abyss. **

**Chapter 3**

**The Grocers' Hamlet, Engeve**

Luke fell asleep a few minutes after the duo entered the coach, leaving Tear alone in the darkness of it. She didn't really mind as the silence suited her just fine. It was a nice coach with comfortable seats and plenty of space even with the two of them on the inside. The coachman was located on the outside where he could control the horses pulling the coach along.

It had cost her her mother's pendant, but it was her responsibility to get the young noble sleeping by her side safely to his manor. At any cost. He was just a civilian involved in a soldier's mission, and civilians were to be protected. Especially nobles whose parents could cause quite the havoc if their children got in harm's way. It was safer to take a coach back to the capital, even if she had paid a high price for it. Luke had seemed upset when she gave the pendant away, but that didn't matter.

Blue eyes fell on the sleeping redhead on her left side. His face was turned away from her, but she could still see the red hair and the white cloths. Tear frowned. Just a few minutes ago it had been too dark to see anything. Moving her gaze from the boy to the window gave her the answer she needed. Far away in the horizon she could see the sun rising, bringing around another day with new possibilities. It was magnificent sight to see the sun rising above the mountaintops in the distance, and for a moment she considered waking the sleeping boy so he too could enjoy it.

Tear had her arm outstretched to shake his shoulder when she remembered just how exhausted he had been just moment before they met the coachman. No wonder he had fallen asleep so quickly. Giving him a light smile, the brunette let him sleep on as the new day greeted them.

*~^:^~*

They had been travelling for a couple of hours, just crossing a bridge if Tear had seen correctly, when they met the first sign of life beside the monsters and the coachman. The brunette had been trying to fix a rift in her right glove – probably from one of the battles, though she had no memories of how it had happened – when the air became filled with the sound of shooting.

"Wh-what was that?" blue eyes met green ones, the young noble wide away and alerted due to the loud noise.

"You're finally awake," Tear stated, her eyes still locked on Luke. He blinked – once, maybe twice – before moving his attention to whatever was going on outside to the left of the coach. The girl wasn't sure if she liked that he ignored her words or not, but decided to let it pass as she too became interested in the source of the sound.

"H-hey! That coach is under attack!" Luke yelled as he leaned out of the window to get a better look. Tear followed his gaze and locked blue eyes on a coach, similar to the one they sat in, chased by a much later vehicle shaped like a ship. Only this one travelled by land, something the brunette had never seen before. The same applied to the redhead if she were to judge by the look in his eyes.

"The army's chasing those bandits! It's those Dark Wings I mistook you for!" the coachman explained through the gap leading out to his seat on the outside. Tear turned her attention from the window to what she could see of the man – which was not much beside the backside of his head. The army? Did the Kimlascan army really have so little to do that they could chase bandits? Or were they searching for the missing noble and just happened to run into the bandits?

"You, there! Move your coach before you get caught in the crossfire!" an unfamiliar voice yelled. The coach did a quick turn to the right, trying to stay clear of the shooting on the left side. Tear had to grab a hold of Luke's jacket to keep him from falling out of the window from the sudden movement. The red haired youth bolted to the other side of the coach moment she got him inside and let go of the fabric. Most likely to keep following what was going on behind them.

A loud explosion shook the coach.

"Whoa! That was cool!" Luke said, still staring out of the window on the right side of the coach. Tear rolled her eyes as she took a new hold of the boy's cloths and pushed him back to the seat on her left side. If he could just keep still for a second…

"Wow! That's Malkuth's newest land dreadnought, the Tartarus!" the coachman said, still keeping his face straight forward to watch the road. His words, however, caused the two teens to share a mixed look.

"M-Malkuth? What's the Malkuth military doing hanging around here?" Luke asked, more puzzled than anything else. Tear watched him from the corner of her eyes.

"What do you mean? Of course they're here. There's been no end to the rumours that Kimlasca's going to start a war any day now. They've tightened security in this area." Tear definitely didn't like the sound of that.

"Wait a minute. This isn't Kimlasca?" she had to ask, had to be sure the man wasn't messing with them. The answer wasn't one she wanted, though.

"What are you talking about? This is the Malkuth Empire. The West Rugnica Plains." Oh Yulia, she had just taken a Kimlascan noble straight into Malkuth. And the son of Duke Fabre, nonetheless. _Keep from panicking, Tear, it could have been worse._

Luke, however, was far from as collected as Tear appeared to be.

"Hang on!" he yelled, standing up in the small coach, "I thought this coach was headed for the capital, Baticul!" the head visible through the small gap shook.

"Nope, Grand Chokmah – capital of Malkuth and home to His Imperial Majesty, Peony the Ninth." The brunette had to say something at this point, but all her energy was used on the focus of staying calm and collected. However, something left her mouth as she left it unguarded for a second.

"Hmm, I was mistaken." What a poor soldier, making mistakes like this. Not only had she "kidnapped" a civilian, but she had brought him to what was probably the most dangerous place in the world for him.

"How can you be so calm about it?" she wasn't, but there was no point in telling him that. Better leave him to the belief of her being in control, "how could you make a mistake like that?" the redhead sat back down and crossed him arms, making a point of not looking at her or in her direction. The blame was unfair, however, and she could feel an annoyance rise inside of her. This mess wasn't just her fault.

"I didn't recognise the area. What's your excuse?" weren't nobles supposed to be taught geographic? He could have tried to figure out where they were, too, and not just leave it all to her.

"I've been confined to the manor. I've never been outside. How the hell should I have known?" That surprised her, though it didn't remove the fact that he should have been taught geographic. Never been outside? That explained why he had been so amazed by the river and the sea during the earlier stage of their journey. Tear opened her mouth to answer him, but got interrupted by the coachman.

"You're sure acting strange. Are you two Kimlascan?" he asked, face turned away from them.

"N-no. we're from Malkuth. We have business in Baticul. We were on our way there," a half-lie, but it was better than no lie at all. Luke muttered something she couldn't hear, probably a protest to her lie, but she couldn't bring herself to care at the moment. Hopefully the coachman hadn't heard him either.

"That's the other direction, then. If you're going to Kimlasca, you should've taken the road south, rather than crossing the bridge. Mind you, with that bridge out, you can't go back now…" The bridge was out? That explained the explosion earlier. The Dark Wings had probably blown it up to keep the army from chasing them.

_The situation just got worse_. She was definitely in way over her head. The whole mess seemed to have reached the redheaded one as well.

"Are you serious? NOW what do we do?" the last one was directed at Tear, but it was the coachman who spoke first.

"We're passing through Engeve to the east on the way to Grand Chokmah. What do you two want to do?" the brunette thought it over for a moment. Grand Chokmah was rather far up north, the opposite direction of where they wanted to go. Besides, it was hardly a possibility that a ship would take them from one capital to the other with the situation as tense as it was for the time being. It was better to go south and find a border city to pass through.

"If we go all the way to Grand Chokmah, we'll just wind up farther away. Let's stop in Engeve and think about how to get back to Kimlasca," she said, blue eyes fixed on the noble beside her whose face was turned toward the window. He didn't protest against it, something she took as a sign of approval.

*~^:^~*

The coachman left the teenagers a kilometre outside of the town they were headed towards, saying something about having to hurry back to Grand Chokmah as he left. They watched him depart, still carrying Tear's pendant among his many items for the market of the capital. From there they had walked in silence into the small town, only broken once when Luke asked Tear about the relationship between Malkuth and Kimlasca. She told him what she knew, that the two was at peace – he knew that – but that the borders had grown tense during the last, few years. After the short conversation the brunette could have sworn she heard the redhead mutter something among the lines of "Asch never told me that".

"This must be Engeve," the girl said as they entered the little gathering of houses in the middle of a huge field. Young children ran laughing along the paths leading from house to house, only watching of for working adults as they moved forward. The air was filled with soft voices and conversations, mixing in with all the different smells coming from the fields.

A man stopped as he was about walk by and shot the duo a strange look.

"Huh, you folks travelling on foot?" he asked while walking closer.

"You got a problem with that?" Luke answered with his arms crossed.

"No, I just mean, with the bandits and monsters and all, most people come by coach." They had come by coach almost all the way, but it would just be a waste of time to explain so. Better let the man believe what he wanted to believe, what they needed was information and he could probably give them just the right answers.

"Could I ask you something?" Tear questioned, waiting for the man to nod slightly before she continued, "how can we get from here to Kimlasca?" The man thought it over for a few seconds, his gaze travelling from Tear to Luke and back again.

"I heard Rotelro Bridge is out," news truly travelled fast in this area. How had they heard about that so quickly when it had happened just a few hours ago? "So you'd have to head to the Kaitzur checkpoint in the south," he answered, still keeping his eyes on them.

"Thank you." Tear bowed her head in gratitude.

"No problem. Bye!" the man waved as he left them at the entrance of the village, heading deeper into the calm life of Engeve. The brunette turned towards her companion the moment the man disappeared from sight.

"A checkpoint… We won't be able to get through without passports. This could be a problem…" she muttered, mostly to herself despite her standing face to face with the noble. Just one problem out of many. Of course nothing was supposed to fall in their favour during the journey. The redhead, however, seemed rather confident.

"It'll be fine," he said while waving his hand as if to chase the problems away, "If I say I'm Duke Fabre's son, they'll let us through in no time," the girl didn't believe it would be that easy to cross the border, "but right now, I want to check this place out! This is my first time in a city!" the seventeen year old boy almost jumped up and down with excitement. Tear felt her eyes widen a little.

"A city…?" she wouldn't call Engeve a city, but fair enough, "well, I suppose we do need to prepare a bit before we leave. Let's stay the night here," she suggested, still a little confused by the boy's sudden eagerness. He had told her earlier that he had been confined to his manor, but surely he must have been in Baticul's lower levels at some point. Engeve could hardly be a city compared to the capital of light.

*~^:^~*

The young noble was literally _everywhere_ when they stared to explore the village. One minute he was walking by her side, the next occupied by something he probably had never seen before. Be it a watermill or a tool the villagers used at the fields, it hardly mattered to the redhead. He would stop and stare until Tear gripped his arm and dragged him with her.

The inn had been by the entrance of the village, but they had decided to explore the village before calling it night, and she was paying for it with the job of a babysitter.

"Boy, this place sure looks poor," Luke commented as they walked from a house placed beside a small river running straight through the village. Somehow – Tear had yet to figure out how _that_ had happened – the duo had ended up travelling there to pick up some miso for a woman a little further down the path. The woman had been too busy cooking to go herself and had asked them to do it for her when she saw them pass by her house. The young noble surprised Tear with that one, as she had been sure he would reject the request. Instead he had told her that sure, they could go for her, and thus placing the duo in the current situation.

"How so?" Tear asked, her eyes wandering from house to house as she walked. Luke tightened the grip he had on the miso they had gotten from the couple living in the house by the river, securing it from falling to the ground.

"Well, look, there're no mansions or anything, and all the roofs look like they've got fur growing on them," fur growing on them? The brunette's blue eyes moved to the roofs. When she thought it over, there was some truth in that. The boy, however, was not finished just yet. "And look at all the animals wandering around! Doesn't that bother anyone?" Tear wanted to laugh. He truly was rather clueless about the outside world.

"No. it's a farming village. They raise crops and livestock. It's what they do," she explained, hoping it would satisfy his question. She watched the villagers out of the corner of her eyes, "Everyone looks like they're enjoying themselves. I don't see anything poor about it."

"Oh, okay… I thought this was, like, a village of gardeners or something for a while there. So I guess they're working in the 'primary industries,' or whatever." He wasn't that far off, actually, though she doubted anyone in this village would like to hear so. Luckily, no one seemed to be listening in on their conversation.

"…Yes, I suppose you could say that." She watched as green eyes wandered over everything that surrounded them.

"Huh. Sure looks boring to me." He should try it, if it looked so boring. But she couldn't tell him that, not when she was the one who had placed him here to begin with. Instead she let out a sight and continued their stroll back to the woman who wanted the miso, in silence.

After delivering the ingredients and eating a delicious dinner with the woman and her family – she insisted they joined them as a payback for all the trouble she caused them with her request – the duo tried to find the way back to the inn. None of them remembered the exact way they had used to begin with, with led them to travel a completely new road back. After some time they ended up at what had to be a marketplace with lots of different outdoor stores. Some of the money they had gotten from the monsters they had defeated earlier was used on food supplies from the stores for the journey to Kaitzur. Luke decided to stay in the background and let Tear handle the shopping, excusing himself with that even though he knew one had to pay – his mother and Asch had taught him so – he had no idea of how to do so. There it was again, the name Asch. This was the second time she heard him say that name. Who was that? She would have to ask him the next time the name showed up in a conversation, if only out of curiosity.

Arms filled with supplies, the two returned once more to the search for the inn. Luckily, the marketplace was close by the entrance and from there it only took minutes to walk to their destination. Upon arrival, they found the entrance to the inn blocked by a crowd of people.

"Nothing… Every last scarp of food in the storehouse has been stolen," a man said from his place on the top of the stairs leading into the building. The duo stopped walking as they reached the back of the crowd.

"This has happened time and time again since those fires up north. You think maybe some deserters hiding out up there have started to come here looking for food?" a second man asked.

"Or it could be the work of the Dark Wings, too." Muttering spread among the crowd, discussing the most likely theory about whom or what was stealing the food. The only word Tear could hear from all the voices was "strangers". Then, all eyes landed on the two teenagers.

"Hey, what are you doing with all that food?"

"It's the thieves! They stole our food!" Tear was more surprised than anything else. Were these guys really accusing them of food theft? To her left she could see Luke moving his head back and forth, trying to figure out who they were talking to.

"N-no, wait! We pai..!" the brunette tried to explain, but the shouts of the villagers drowned her voice entirely.

"What…? You're the ones who raided my storehouse?" the first man asked in disbelief. Someone, at least, seemed to find it hard to believe the false accusation.

"They say the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime," the third voice from the beginning said, annoyance and anger dripping from it. Tear opened her mouth to deny them once more, but got interrupted again, this time by her very own companion.

"Are you calling us thieves?" Luke had finally figured out that they were talking about them. The crowd, however, paid little attention to the red haired noble.

"That's it. I'm taking you to the authorities!" within seconds the crowd had thrown themselves at the two outsiders and disarmed them, taking Tear's rod, Luke's sword and all the food they had just bought. Without another word the two were guided toward a house on the other side of the marketplace.

*~^:^~*

Luke had experienced a lot of different things during the seven years he remembered, but being kicked into a house seconds after the door was opened, was not one of them. Not even Asch had done that to him as a punishment or revenge for a prank. Luckily he had been able to save himself with his arms; otherwise he might have hit the floor face first.

"Rose, we've got trouble!" one of the many men from outside the inn screamed, gaining the attention of a woman standing further inside the room.

"Hush! We've got an important guest from the military here. Calm down!" the woman told him back, hands firmly placed on her hips. The man who had been standing right outside the door to the inn stepped forward, entering Luke's field of sight.

"How can we be calm?" he knelt down and the red haired noble felt a hand close around his neck before he got lifted up in the air, "We caught them! We caught the thieves stealing food!" the man yelled, waving the boy from side to side. From this new position, Luke could see Tear standing in the middle of a group acting as guards. He envied her the feeling of ground beneath her feet.

"I'm telling you, it wasn't us!" he didn't care if Tear's look told him to shut up; the words left his mouth anyway. This was unfair! They couldn't just go around accusing them of something they had not done! The words went unnoticed, just like the brunette's protest earlier.

"Rose! These two may be with the Dark Wings!"

"They're got to be responsible for all the food getting stolen lately!" This was ridiculous! How could they be guilty when they had arrived at the village that very day?

"I'm telling you people, we're not your damn thieves!" he yelled and knocked the hand holding him by the neck away. For a moment he fell through the air, before landing safely on his feet. Time to continue the protest against this idiotic mistake. "Do I look like I'm going hungry to you?"

"My, my, what a lively boy. Let's all just settle down first, all right?" the woman – Rose – said, her laughter half hidden within her words.

"Yes, please do," a new voice added, and Luke became aware of another stranger for the first time since they entered the house. He frowned. Had he not heard that voice before?

The speaker was a man dressed in a blue uniform, with long, dirty blond hair and glasses in front of red eyes. The young noble was pretty sure he had never seen him before.

"Who the hell are you?" he questioned, still angry from all the theft mess. The man handed Rose something he had been holding, before aiming red eyes at the boy.

"I'm Colonel Jade Curtiss, Third Division, Malkuth Imperial Forces. And who might you be?" he said, arms held behind him and his entire posture straight and formal.

"Luke. Luke fon –" he started, all about to use his full name.

"Luke!" Tear interrupted as she linked her arm with his and turned him around. How she had gotten out from the group of men surround her earlier was beyond him. She didn't let go, however, after she turned him around. Instead she kept one hand on his right shoulder and the other on his arm. Why had she stopped him from speaking?

"What's your problem?" he whispered, glaring at the brunette on his right side.

"Have you forgotten?" she whispered back, "this is enemy territory. Your father, Duke Fabre, is one of Malkuth's greatest enemies. Don't use your name so casually." That surprised him.

"Oh. Really?"

"Yes. There are plenty of people here who've had family killed by your father. You don't want any unnecessary trouble, do you?" No, he didn't. Right now, he just wanted to go home as quick as possible.

"Is something wrong?" the Colonel – Jade – asked, watching them carefully from behind those glasses of his. Tear pushed Luke away and turned to face the man speaking to them. Once more Luke was left falling face first toward the ground, and once more his hands broke the fall.

"My apologies, Colonel. He's Luke. I'm Tear. We were headed for Chesedonia, but we boarded the wrong coach and wound up here," she said, once more coming with half lies. Luke wanted to yell at her for pushing him, but decided to stay quiet and check over his clothes. Better let her handle the man when she had first decided to do so.

"Oh? So you're the other one suspected of being with the Dark Wings?" The Dark Wings, again?

"We're not with the Dark Wings. The Malkuth military forced the real Dark Wings to the other side of Rotelro Bridge," Tear's voice said, but Luke was too busy with a hole on his trousers to look at her. Damn, he would have to ask someone sew it together once he came back to the manor.

"Ah… I see. So you were on that coach from earlier." Luke's head snapped up. So that's where he had heard the Colonel's voice earlier. He had been the one to order the coach out of the crossfire.

"What is all this about, Colonel?" Rose asked, dragging the young noble's attention back to the conversation between his companion and Colonel.

"Just as Tear said, a group of bandits thought to be the Dark Wings fled toward Kimlasca. I can assure you that these two are not with them," the long haired man said, still holding his posture.

"They don't appear to be mere food thieves, either," a new voice said, turning every head inside the house toward the door. There stood a young boy- he was younger than Luke with a few years, it appeared - with short, green hair except from two bangs hanging down beside his face to his shoulders. He was dressed in green and white with a necklace down to his chest, with green eyes to match his hair.

"Fon Master Ion…" Jade said as everyone moved away from the door to the let kid inside.

"I was a bit curious, so I investigated the food storehouse. I found this in a corner of the room," the kid said as he walked toward Rose and placed something in her open palm. Luke tried to stretch his neck to get a glimpse of what had been delivered, but the two stood too far away from him to see it. Not that he had to wonder for long before the answer came.

"This is fur from a sacred cheagle," the woman uttered in surprise.

"Yes. A cheagle is what probably raided your food stores," the green haired boy confirmed, something that once more lit the fire inside the young noble.

"See! I told you we weren't thieves!" he said as he turned toward the leader of the men who had brought them inside the house. Rose laughed silently.

"Well, sounds like that takes care of that. I think you all have something to say to this boy and his friend?" she said, a small smile covering her lips. Her hands were once more placed on her hips as her eyes wandered over the group of men near the door.

"I'm sorry. With all the burglaries lately, I've been a little on edge," the leader said, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Sorry for accusing you."

"Do you think you could forgive them, boy?" Rose asked while she turned her smile toward the young noble.

"I'm not a boy."

"I'm sorry. Luke, could we let bygones be bygones?" He turned his face away from her smile.

"… Yeah, whatever."

"Glad to hear it. Now, I have business with the Colonel I'll think of a way to stop the cheagles, so all of you just go on home for today," with that, Rose shooed the men and the duo out of the house and onto the marketplace. The men disappeared quickly, still muttering soft apologies to the teenagers as they passed them by. The food and the weapons had been given back the moment they left the house, and the two found themselves wandering toward the inn once more.

"Why is Fon Master Ion here…" Tear wondered out loud as they got closer to their destination. Luke stopped walking, causing the girl to turn around and look at him.

"Fon Master Ion?" he questioned.

"The supreme leader of the Order of Lorelei."

"Hey, wait a minute. I heard Ion was missing. Master Van said he was returning home to look for him!" Tear tipped her head to the side and frowned.

"Really? That's news to me. I wonder what's going on… He didn't look like he was being held captive," she said, hand lifted to her chin. The young noble turned around, ready to run back to Rose's house.

"I'll go ask him," he called out as he took two quick steps toward the house. He stopped, however, when Tear grabbed his arm.

"Stop. They seemed to be in the middle of an important discussion. Let's come back tomorrow," she said, dragging him in the direction of the inn.

"That business about Ion is really bugging me. I really should've asked when I had the chance…" Luke muttered as he let the girl pull him along. He didn't want to let it be until the morning, but Tear seemed determined to keep him away from the house they had just left.

"No need to rush it. You'll have a chance to talk to him tomorrow. Let's get some rest at the inn for now," she told him as they entered the inn.

"Have you seen the person I was with? A boy, pretty short? Kind of out of it?" at the counter stood a little girl dressed in pink with a bear on her back and dark hair was put up in twin pigtails.

"Sorry, I was away from the inn for a little while…" the man – the leader of the crowd from earlier – answered her. The duo stopped right on the inside of the door, both deciding it would be for the best to the let girl finish before they came closer.

"Honestly, that Ion! Where did he run off to?" she muttered and placed her hands on her hips. A tired sight escaped her lips.

"Ion? You mean Fon Master Ion?" Luke asked, eyes wide as he watched the girl. Could she really be looking for the one they had just left behind at Rose's?

"If you're looking for Ion, he was over at Rose's place," Tear offered, moving away from the door so that the girl could leave through it.

"Really? Thank you!" the girl half sung the last part and ran toward the exit. The young noble had other plans than to let her escape so quickly and blocked her path.

"Hey, wait a second. What's the Fon Master doing here? I heard he was missing," he said, hoping the pink clothed girl could give him some answers for his many questions. The look on her face, however, was more shocked than anything else.

"Ack! Are there rumours like that floating around? I have to tell Ion!" she said before bolting out of the door behind the two teenagers. Luke reached out a hand to stop her, but he just barely touched her clothes as she disappeared past him.

"Hey! Humph. She didn't answer my question," he muttered disappointed.

"Yes, but she looks like a Fon Master Guardian, so I assume Ion's journey is officially recognised by the Order of Lorelei," Tear said, both eyes on the door the girl just had left through.

*~^:^~*

They had gotten a room for free due to all the mix-up earlier, something Tear was rather happy with. The less money they had to use, the better. The supply wouldn't last forever, and they most likely had to buy more food in the next town.

"Tomorrow, we'll head for the Kaitzur checkpoint. With the bridge out, that's the only way to Baticul. We also have to do something about passports," she said as she sat down on the bed closest to the door. If someone came through it in the middle of the night, she would most likely hear it before anything happened.

"Hey, do you know what cheagles are? They called them 'sacred'," Luke asked from his location on the bed furthest away from her – that left one in the middle between them. Blue eyes landed on him.

"They're herbivores that live in the woodlands of the East Rugnica Plains. They're one of the symbols of the Order of Lorelei, along with the Order's founder, Yulia. Their forest is just north of this village, actually," she explained, like she had done with what seemed like an endless list of things lately. Honestly, did he not know anything at all?

"Oh. Thanks." The boy bowed his head and hid something with his body. Tear raised an eyebrow and stretched her neck to see what he hid. Was that a notebook?

"What are you doing?" she said, rising from her seat and moving closer to the young noble. She stopped once she came up on his side and stared over his shoulder.

"H-hey! Don't look!" he panicked the second he realised the girl was so close to him and slammed whatever he had held in his hands together with a mighty force. Tear backed away a few steps.

"Sorry, I just… I saw you with a notebook out and…" she tried to calm him down by backing off even more. Luke crossed his legs on top of the bed and glared at her.

"Shut up already! I have to do this every day," he told her, a slight flush covering his cheeks. Tear tipped her head to the side.

"Do what?" she asked, not sure what he meant. His cheeks almost matched his hair colour. "

"Well… Don't laugh, but… It's a diary," he muttered, glaring a hole in the sheets beneath him.

"Oh. That's great," nothing bad about a diary; she had tried to write one a couple of times herself. The boy eyed her with suspicion.

"You're not gonna laugh at me?" he questioned, disbelief written all over his face.

"Why? There's nothing to laugh about. Though I didn't exactly think you were the type to keep a diary." Not the type at all, actually. He didn't seem like one who cared about such things.

"I'm not doing it because I want to."

That surprised her.

"Oh? Then why…?"

"…The doctors make me do it, just in case I get amnesia again. Mother wants me to keep one, too. Asch says I don't have to bother so much, 'cause he doubts I'll get it again. Though he do ask me to write down everything that happens around us all. I think he's just too lazy to do it himself and instead let me do it so he can steal my book whenever he wants to relive a memory." There came her chance to ask about that too.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but who is Asch?" he blinked, surprised by her question, before a fond smile spread across his lips.

"Asch is my older twin brother," he said, that soft smile still draped across his face. Tear stared at him. Had he not thought it good to inform her that he had a brother? On the other hand, she hardly knew anything about him at all, and she had kept her own information tight to her chest as well. Hopefully this Asch was not the protective type of an older brother – twins, not directly an older brother. If he was so, however, she was must likely a dead girl the moment they met. She had after all – unfortunately and accidentally – kidnapped his brother. She was in more than way over her head.

*~^:^~*

**A/N:** **As normal, hope you enjoyed!**


	5. Chapter 4: Sacred Cheagles

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of the Abyss. **

**Chapter 3**

**Sacred Cheagles**

Tear was used to wake up early due to her training as an Oracle Knight, but she knew civilians slept for a long time. For that reason she was far from surprised when she woke and found her companion still lost for the waking world. It was still early, the sun had hardly risen above the horizon, but they had a long way to travel and the earlier the better. She had bought a map the day before during their little walk through the marketplace – the only thing that had not been confiscated – and apparently it would take them at least a week to walk all the way to Kaitzur. Which meant they had to start early, and letting Luke sleep in was _not_ an option.

The boy was sleeping on his back, quiet and unmoving if one looked away from the even rise and fall of his chest. The blanket he had used during the night had at some point been pushed down so his entire stomach – which was not covered by the black, short-armed shirt he slept in – was in full sight for anyone who wanted to look. Something she tried very hard not to stare at.

"Luke?" Tear tried softly, lowering herself so her mouth was at the same height as his left ear. His hand twisted a little, but apart from that nothing happened. A little higher, perhaps?

"Luke." Nothing. She called his name a couple of more times with the same result before annoyance got the better of her.

"Luke! Wake up!" she said sharply, rising from her kneeling position beside his bed. That got a reaction out of the boy.

"I'm awake! You don't need to use the bucket, Asch!" he shouted, sitting up in the bed with a speed she didn't know he had.

Tear blinked.

Luke blinked. A slight blush rose across his cheeks as his eyes landed on her – fully dressed, she had done so before she woke him up – where she stood beside his bed.

"What do you want?" he asked roughly, glaring at her as his cheeks slowly started to match his hair. Not a morning person, then. On the other hand, he had just revealed the perfect weapon if she had trouble waking him at a later point. What kind of a person _was_ his twin, anyway? The use of water sounded cruel, though she knew it was used within the military on people who were late, but it was tempting to use it in the future. Maybe her fear of Asch being protective could be calmed a little, if he used methods like this.

"We're leaving Engeve as soon as you get dressed. The road to Kaitzur is a long one," she answered, her stare at the boy cold as ice. He threw a glance out of the window, eyes widening by what he saw, before returning green eyes back to stare at her.

"Are you insane? The sun's barely up! You woke me for this?" he fell back down on the bed, hands tight around the blanket he pulled over his head. Tear took a deep breath to stop her anger from coming out.

"Luke! Get up!" she yelled, hands placed firmly on her hips as she glared at the boy beneath the blanket.

"Go away!" he growled.

"Luke!" Spoiled brat. He had been almost just fine yesterday, and now he behaved like this? The brunette grabbed a hold on the lower end of the blanket, ready to rip it off of him. The boy held on tight in the other end, leaving the poor blanket to be pulled in both directions. In the end, after what seemed like forever, the thing snapped right in the middle, leaving Tear to fly backwards and crash into the floor. It hurt, but she escaped with no injuries.

A pair of guilty, green eyes stared at her from the bed, obviously frightened by what may happen after this. The brunette rose from the floor and shot the boy a dirty look. He gulped.

*~^:^~*

Thirty minutes later, the duo checked out of the inn. All their belongings had been packed in two bags and their weapon hung ready to use if needed. Luke kept his green eyes locked on the floor, only grunting when spoken to, while Tear carried an annoyed and angry aura around herself. In the end she had gotten the boy to leave the bed and get ready for their journey, but she had yet to hear an apology from him. That was obviously not happening, not as long as he kept believing she was the one who should do so.

Kelly, the owner of the inn, had been more than happy to see them leave – he had been woken up earlier by a shouting match coming from the room he had lent them. He surely wouldn't miss them once they left town. What a lively couple.

The duo still refused to glance in each other's direction during the short walk out of the village. Tear led the way, walking straight forward and only making sure the boy followed her by listening to the sound of his footsteps behind her. Luke glared at everything he could find that did not involve a certain brunette, but his feet followed the path she had chosen. He was angry, but losing her now would mean losing every possible opportunity to get back home.

It was the redhead's wandering eyes that first landed on the white and green dressed person who walked out of the village at the same time as them. Why was that Ion kid walking around all alone? Didn't the Fon Master usually have Guardians with them? That was what Asch had taught him, and Master Van was even supposed to go find him so he could protect him.

Luke stopped walking.

He needed to ask Ion about why others believed him to be missing, when he obviously didn't look like one held captive. Tear was forgotten and so was going home.

*~^:^ ~*

"I swear I'm going to kill him," Tear muttered to herself as she walked through the green forest north of Engeve. Two hours earlier she had left the village together with a certain idiot of a noble, only to lose him minutes after leave Engeve. She had noticed by how silent it had become behind her, implying that no one was following her. Upon turning around, she had caught sight of red hair disappearing in the north direction, trailing behind someone who looked like Fon Master Ion. Of course, she had promised he could speak with the Fon Master before they left the village, but that had been far from anyone's mind during the morning.

And now she was left chasing after an impulsive noble who had – so obviously – forgotten to tell her he would ditch her the moment something else showed up. So much for hoping the journey to Kaitzur would be without problems.

Tear stopped the moment she reached an opening inside the forest. There, looking completely lost and all alone, stood the very boy she had been searching for.

"Luke!" she called out, walking closer to the redhead. He jumped at the sound of her voice, and shot her a nervous look upon seeing her face.

"What do you think you were doing, running away like that?" she scolded once she came close enough, arms crossed over her chest. The boy blushed and tried to look everywhere else than at her while muttering something that sounded like "followed Ion", "walked too fast" and "lost him out of sight". The brunette sighed. At least she had been able to find him rather fast.

"Let's go. It's even longer to Kaitzur from here," she said, starting to head back the way she came from. It had taken her two hours to get there, and they needed as much time as possible if they were going to reach Baticul before everything went out of hand.

Only one pair of footsteps sounded through the forest, causing Tear to stop and look over her shoulder at the boy she once more had left behind her. He glared at her, before twisting around to walk further into the forest.

"We have to find Ion first," he said, refusing to look at her. Maybe knocking him out and carrying the idiot out of the forest would work? They really didn't have time for this!

Before she could voice her objection – Ion could take care of himself, he wasn't _Fon Master_ for nothing – a loud sound rung through the air around them. Luke bolted in the direction of the sound, leaving the girl to follow behind to make sure he stayed safe until she could deliver him at his manor. But with their luck, that wouldn't happen in the near future.

It took them just minutes to reach the place the sound had come from, or at least they believed it had to be from there. On the ground, close by a huge root from the tree above them, lay the green and white clad Fon Master.

"Hey, are you okay?" Luke called out, sprinting over to the younger boy just as he was about to lift himself off the ground.

"I-I'm fine. I just used too strong a Daathic fonic arte…" the green haired boy said, flashing them both a weak smile. Tear, having followed behind the one she kidnapped, stopped a few steps away from the two boys. She considered to offer the boy some healing, but he seemed to do just fine without it. There was no visible wounds at him, at least.

The Fon Master watched the two for some seconds, before something flickered in his eyes.

"Oh, you're the two from Engeve yesterday…" he said, still smiling brightly at the older duo.

"I'm Luke," Luke said, holding out a hand to help the boy as he swayed dangerously.

"Luke… That means "light of the sacred flame" in Ancient Ispanian. That's a nice name," Ion answered while steadying himself with the help of the other boy.

"I'm Locrian Sergeant Tear Grants. 1st Platoon, Oracle Knights Intelligence Division, under Grand Maestro Mohs' command," Tear bowed deep for the one who was her superior. All those belonging to Daath and the Oracle Knights had the Fon Master as their ultimate superior, even Grand Maestro Mohs. As she straightened up again she could see the slight surprise covering the green haired boy.

"You're Van's younger sister. I've heard of you. This is the first time we've met, isn't it?" It was, she wanted to say, but instead she got interrupted by the redheaded noble.

"You're Master Van's sister?" he yelled, both surprised and confused, "then what was with you trying to kill him?" straight onto a topic she didn't want to speak about.

"Kill him…?" Ion said, a curious look on his face.

Luke was angry and a bit afraid. Angry because this woman had tried to kill one of those who mattered to him. Afraid because if siblings could start to hate each other enough to want to kill, that could happen to him and Asch as well. And he didn't want that. There was no way he could ever hate his brother enough to kill him, but his twin usually got angry with him if Luke did something bad. What would happen if he one day did something so bad that his brother started to hate him?

"Sorry, it's nothing. Just something between us." Tear's voice came from somewhere far away and the boy struggled to push the thoughts out of his head. He refused to let something like that happen between his brother and him, so it was hardly something he should be concerned about at the moment. On the other hand, Tear had yet to answer his question.

"Don't try to avoid the question! If you're his sister, why are you trying to kill him?" the whole family-murdering-family was making him uneasy, and the questions asked made the brunette just as uncomfortable as he felt.

"It's… I…" the leaves on a bush nearby turned three heads around in its direction. There, a yellow creature with large ears came jumping out of it.

"It's a cheagle!" Ion whispered in awe, staring straight at the little thing. Luke turned towards him.

"The creatures that stole from the village? They live here? Come on, if we follow that thing we might find the stolen food!" the young noble shouted and ran after the little creature, only to frighten it and making it run away with the red haired youth close after.

Tear watched them go with disbelief in her blue eyes. Had he really left her behind_ again _to chase after what he should leave alone?

"Would it be best if I don't inquire about you and Van?" the brunette blinked twice before she turned her head toward the young Fon Master. His green eyes – forest green compared to Luke's emerald ones – looked up at her with something similar to concern and guilt. That made her heart ache a bit.

"I'm sorry. It relates to my homeland. I'd prefer not to get you or Luke involved…" she answered, hoping some of the feelings inside the boy's eyes would fade away.

"Hey! It's gonna get away!" Luke's voice called out to them from afar, probably waiting impatiently for his companions to follow him. Ion flashed her his bright smile once more.

"Let's go!" he said before running after the young noble, leaving a rather confused Tear behind him.

"What? Oh, right!"

*~^:^~*

The trio walked in silence for a while after the two connected to Daath caught up with the young noble. Luke kept glancing from side to side, hoping to catch a glimpse of another one of these cheagles. Though this had not been on his mind when he woke up in the morning – damn early, thanks to stupid Tear – now it seemed just right to chase after them and find proof of who stole food from Engeve. There were a few monsters lurking around inside the forest, Ion had even killed a couple earlier which had been the source of the sound they had heard, but hardly any that opposed a threat to the travellers. Luke and Tear fought them off the moment the monsters showed up, while Ion stood patiently on the side line. An action that left Luke thinking about the boy and his lack of participation in the fighting.

"Hey, what are you even doing here if you can't fight?" he questioned after some time, emerald eyes fasten on the green haired boy. The other one didn't meet his stare as he was too focused on the road ahead of them.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to find out what really happened at Engeve," he answered. Though that fitted nicely with what Luke himself had decided to do upon seeing the cheagle, he refused to stop at that.

"Huh? Why? It's none of your business, is it?" he said, returning his stare to look out for cheagles once more. They still followed the yellow one from earlier, though they had fallen a little behind it.

"The cheagles are sacred creatures. If they're harming people they must have some reason for it. As one who is connected to the cheagles, I cannot sit idly by and watch." The red haired noble had no idea about what he meant by being connected to the cheagles – could he be referring to the cheagles as a symbol of the Order of Lorelei and all the stuff Tear had explained the day before? Apart from that symbolism, they appeared to be just regular monsters to him.

"Well, they're just monsters, right? Just leave them alone." The Fon Master shook his head and gave the noble a small smile.

"I can't. Maybe I'm strange that way, but… that's how I am," he took a small pause before continuing, "anyway, if we find the cheagles, we should be able to learn what's going on." Running into a forest filled with monsters just to find out what's going on in a small village, what in the world was this boy thinking? Luke was okay, he could fight, but Ion, who obviously couldn't even if he had made a group of monsters disappear before the duo showed up, was an easy target in this place.

_The Fon Master is someone important and for that reason he needs to be protected at all times. _Asch's voice sounded through his head. Luke shook the memory away from his mind, but in the next battles he tried to keep a closer watch at the Fon Master to make sure the monsters didn't hurt him.

After what seemed like an hour, they lost sight of the cheagle they had been following so far. Luke ran a few steps forward, eyes still searching for the creature he had kept a close eye on so far. It had been easy to find it again after each battle, so how could they have lost it now? Annoyed, he turned toward his companions.

"You see?" he said loudly, "it got away! Could you two be any slower?" it wasn't really fair of him to be angry at them, he too had lost sight of it, but he was so mad and needed to release a little bit of the feelings inside of him. Asch would probably yell at him for that, but he was not there at the moment.

"Don't worry," Ion said, a calming look on his face, "their nesting ground should be up ahead." The noble gave him a curious look, some of the angry and annoyed feelings fading away.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"Oh, um… Actually, I was curious about the thefts in Engeve and did a little looking. Cheagles are intelligent and peaceful creatures. It's not like them to steal food." The Fon Master walked up to him as he spoke, leaving Tear to follow them both. So the reason the green haired boy had come to the forest to begin with had been to search for the cheagles, the very same thing Luke all of a sudden had decided the duo would do too.

"Well, it looks like we're both headed to the same place, then," he commented. Ion looked slightly surprised.

"The two of you came here to investigate the cheagles, too?" the younger of the two boys asked and received a shake of red hair to answer.

"No, we came here to ask you a question, but that can wait. Right now we're going to help you find these cheagles!" the Kimlascan noble flashed them both a wide grin, all anger driven from his mind. The Fon Master returned the grin with one of his own wide smiles, eyes shining with happiness.

"Really? You would do that?"

Tear, however, was not quite as happy with the decision as the two boys.

"How can you think of taking Fon Master Ion somewhere so dangerous?" she yelled, arms crossed over her chest. Two pair of green eyes landed on her, one angry and the other guilty.

"Then what do you want to do with him?" Luke yelled back, "He'll just come wandering back here on his own." And Ion would do just that, the noble was sure of it.

"… I'm sorry. I just have to know. Cheagles are the sacred beasts of our Order, after all," Ion added, eyes fixed on the ground beneath his feet.

"See?" Luke focused on the younger boy, first now taking his appearance in fully. He seemed exhausted, had since they met him, and his face was far too white for it to be healthy. "Besides, we can't just leave a guy with a face so pale he looks like he's about to die." That got Tear staring. Apparently, she too had overlooked that upon their meeting earlier. The Fon Master seemed to ignore the noble's words and instead started smiling widely again.

"Oh! Thank you so much! You're such a nice person, Luke!" he said, far too cheerful for someone so pale. The redhead could feel his cheeks turn red, and why was Tear holding a hand to her mouth? They didn't have time for this! They had a cheagle to find and a mystery to solve!

"Let's go!" he shouted as he twisted around to face the other direction.

"Okay!" Ion followed with, trailing behind the young noble. Luke stopped for a second, eyes fixed on the Fon Master once more.

"And don't do whatever you did to remove the monsters before we showed up. You were as good as passed out when we came. We'll take care of the fighting," the noble said and he could have sworn he heard _giggles _escape from the Oracle Knight behind him. What did she find so funny?

"You're going to protect me? Sir Luke, I'm so moved!" The Fon Master was someone important to the world and Luke would just have to do Master Van's job in protecting him until the older man could catch up with them. That's what everyone would have done, right? _Sir Luke_, however, had him rather embarrassed. He was far too young for a title like that!

"It's just 'Luke'," he said, leading the way deeper into the forest.

*~^:^~*

The more time Tear spent in the company of Luke fon Fabre, the less she understood him. This morning, and for hours after waking, he had been angry and mad, but he had noticed the Fon Master's problem before she did and had chatted quite cheerfully with them both since the green haired boy joined their party. He didn't whine as much as she had believed a noble would do, though he did so at times, and he was rather protective about the Fon Master whenever they got into a fight with a monster.

At the moment, the two boys chatted together some steps in front of her while keeping an eye open for sights of cheagles. She had no idea what the topic for their conversation was, but whatever it was, it had just made both boys laugh. An action which caused the leaves on a nearby bush to twist and turn as a pink creature similar to the one from earlier, came out of it. It looked startled and confused, muttering something Tear could not hear from her position behind the two boys.

"So, that's a cheagle?" Luke asked, waiting for confirmation from his companions before anything else.

"It looks like it's still a child," Ion said, standing by Luke's side as he watched the little creature.

_It's so cute…_ Tear wanted to run forward and pick it up, surround it in a warm hug. The fur looked so soft, so nice, so… cute! Controlled by her desire to hold the creature tight, she took a few steps toward it and passed the boys at some point. Soon, she was closer than the cheagle found ok, and the pink creature gave no sound before it ran away from the group. Tear watched it go with a sad feeling inside her heart.

"Hey! It ran away!" the redheaded noble called out, staring after the disappearing cheagle. Luckily he had not given her an accusing look for chasing it away when they had spent so long looking for it.

"It is a wild animal, after all," the Fon Master walked toward the girl as he spoke, he too focusing on the creature that ran away from them. Tear let her eyes wander over the nature around them, taking in everything that might have something important to tell them.

"This must be the cheagles' nesting area," she said after some minutes of silence, blue eyes resting on an opening right in front of them with a large tree in the middle. The tree, however, stood in a pond. Huge rocks placed between the tree and the ground made it accessible.

"I do hope we can find some proof they stole food from the village. Let's explore a little," Ion said as he continued his path into the open space. The brunette and the redhead followed quickly, eyes directed toward the ground to search for proof and clues to whether the cheagles were the thieves or not.

They spent almost twenty minutes searching the entire area without any luck before they decided to try near the tree in the middle. Tear watched the two boys from the corner of her eyes while she looked around a huge stone. Ion was on his knees so he could see below the branches of small trees and bushes, while Luke only let his shoes touch the ground as he searched through the area. She sighed. He may not have complained about getting his clothes dirty, but he sure didn't do anything to gain dirt on them either.

"These apples have the mark of Engeve on them," Ion's voice called out all of a sudden, gaining the attention of the two other teenagers. The green haired boy stood near the rock path to the tree and held something red in his hand. As she came closer to the Fon Master, Tear could see clearly both the apple and the mark the village used on all their products. Earlier, she had not thought much about those markings at all, but now it was probably one of the most welcoming things in the world.

"So, these guys did do it!" Luke cried, but Tear paid no attention to him. She had heard sounds, and sounds in a forest with lots of monsters could be rather dangerous. The brunette refused to be caught off guard and let her eyes wander around. So far she had not seen any monsters enter the clearing where they stood at all, and the only place anything could really hide were inside the large tree, which on a second glance had a disturbingly huge hole right across the rock path. How had she not seen that one before?

She tightened her grip on the rod she held.

"I think I hear something inside this tree," she whispered to the other two, trying to stop whatever she had heard from noticing them. The warning, however, went completely ignored by the younger of the two boys.

"Cheagles live inside tree trunks," he said as he crossed the rock path and disappeared into the darkness of the tree trunk. Tear felt her breath got stuck in her throat, rendering her incapable of talking until the boy had vanished completely.

"Fon Master! That's too dangerous!" she called after him once her voice returned and without thinking clearly she ran after him into the darkness of the tree, followed by the light footsteps of the redheaded noble. The darkness swallowed all three of them, leaving the apples alone in the weak sunlight shining through the leave-covered branches of the forest.

*~^:^~*

The Cheagle Woods was quiet and peaceful as a little group consisting of three humans and a little, blue cheagle made their way through the overgrown paths. It was the cheagle that led the way, sitting comfortable on Tear's shoulder.

Luke walked a little behind them with Ion, left hand ready to grab his sword the second a monster showed up. Somehow, the Fon Master had been correct when he guessed that the tree was the home of the cheagles they had been looking for and that they were the food thieves. In the beginning, the redheaded noble had been doubtful to whether the monsters would understand them or not, but it had turned out that Yulia Jue, the founder of the Order of Lorelei, had given the cheagles an item so they could both understand and speak the human language. Ion had later called the item the Sorcerer's Ring, which now rested comfortable around the stomach of the cheagle travelling with them.

The leader of the creatures, the Cheagle Elder, had explained the thefts of food from Engeve with that they gave it to a family of ligers that had moved into their region of the forest after a fire, caused by the same cheagle that now held the Sorcerer's Ring, burned down the ligers' previous home. They had not eaten the food themselves and only stolen it to keep the much larger monsters from eating them.

So, in an attempt to stop the food from being stolen from Engeve, Luke – along with his two companions – had somehow ended up being sent out to negotiate with the ligers with the blue cheagle – Mieu it had presented itself as – as a translator due to the Sorcerer's Ring. Apparently food from Engeve was shipped all around the world and for that reason it was not acceptable to let the ligers attack the village, which would have been the result had the little group taken the cheagles back with them.

The blue creature was _annoying_, Luke thought as he watched it talk happily with Tear. It talked too much with a voice that gave him a headache. Unluckily, the two others seemed to find the thing both cute and calming. The only thing cool about it was it's ability to breathe fire, something all grown-up chealges could, but this one was just a child. Not only did the fire keep the monsters away if one should show up right in front of the cheagle, but it could also burn away roots holding otherwise fallen trees and thus make crossing the small rivers flowing through the forest a lot easier by using the fallen trees as bridges.

"Hey, Mieu… I've heard that cheagles are herbivores, but what exactly is it that you eat?" Tear's voice reached the redheaded noble's ears, causing him to move his emerald stare toward the duo up front of them. He had to admit he was a bit curious about what the cheagles ate after the whole steal-food-and-give-it-to-the-ligers thing.

"Mieuu… Tataroo Grass, Baticul Grass, Yulia Grass, Fubras Grass, Katz Grass…" the thing answered.

"Huh… You sure like your grass, don't you?" Tear took the words out of his mouth. How could anyone eat that much grass? Wouldn't it all taste the same?

"Yup! But we eat mushrooms too!" the brunette's head moved from side to side.

"Do mushrooms actually grow around here?" she asked, sounding utterly confused. Luke frowned. He had not seen any mushrooms either as they passed through the forest.

"Yup! There's lots of them up to the north!" ah, that would explain it. He could not remember eating mushrooms at any points in his life, not that he remembered that much, mostly due to Asch's hatred for the thing and therefore lack of it in the food served at the manor. He had asked his brother about it once and only received a cold glare and the muttering of the words "eaten too much" as an answer. Most likely it had been served so often in their youth that the older boy had grown to dislike it. He really wished he could remember eating it.

"That sounds interesting. Can you show me around sometime?" why would Tear want to be showed around by that stupid thing? What could be so interesting about _mushrooms_?

Whatever the thing answered Tear, the boy never heard. They had reached their destination, an underground cavern deep below the forest bed where a huge animal rested on top of what looked like an overgrown bird's nest.

"That must be the queen," the girl whispered, an amazed look on her face. The redheaded boy tipped his head slightly to the side.

"The queen?" he asked, frowning slightly. Was that the ruler over all the other ligers, and how could Tear know something like that? The size, maybe, because that thing was huge.

"Ligers live in packs formed around a giant female," the brunette explained, never taking her eyes off the thing in front of them.

"Mieu, please go talk with the liger queen," Ion half-heartedly ordered and to Luke it sounded like he tried to keep his calm. Which was rather understandable, as the noble struggled to stay calm himself. Something that big had to have sharp claws, and teeth. He really didn't want to figure that one out. Hopefully, this would pass without any fighting.

The little cheagle stepped forward and started to talk it's own language to the monster. At first, the liger had only blinked at the thing, before it suddenly rose and roared, causing the cheagle to be knocked off it's feet and sent it flying toward the little group standing near the entrance to the cave.

"Are you all right?" Ion asked, kneeling down next to their newest companion.

"Hey, runt, what did she say?" Luke refused to be as gentle as Ion with the little thing. The blue creature looked up at them both with huge, tearfilled eyes.

"She says her eggs are just about to hatch, so go away," it answered, causing the green-haired boy and the brunette to stop all their movements. Luke blinked a couple of times, trying to understand what was happening in front of him.

"Her Highness is really mad that I accidentally burned their home," Mieu continued, his head bowed to the ground.

"Eggs? Ligers lay eggs?" Luke cried out, finally snapping out of the confusion. Till then, he had always believed monsters were born the same way as humans. Guy and Asch had given him a book about that kind of things last year, most likely as a joke. The boy shuddered at the reminder of the pictures he had found on the inside.

"I was born form an egg, too. A lot of monsters are born from eggs," the little cheagle said timidly, not meeting anyone's stare.

"This is bad. Ligers are more violent when they're guarding their eggs." The red haired boy stared at the girl. What did she want them to do, then, if they could not talk to the liger at the moment?

"So what, do we come back later?"

"But if the liger eggs hatch, the young will likely swarm the village in search of food," the Fon Master looked downright bothered by the whole event taking place in front of them. This egg hatching seemed to be quite the problem. But why would the new-born ligers attack Engeve?

"Huh?" the sound escaped his lips before he had the chance to stop them.

"Liger young like human flesh, so people hunt down any near cities before they can reproduce," Tear explained, not taking her eyes of the liger queen.

"Could you ask them to leave this land?" Ion said in a soft voice to Mieu, once more encouraging the thing to approach the queen. The thing nodded and headed forward once more, switching over to that annoying language the cheagles spoke. It didn't work the second time either. Whatever Mieu had said had just pissed off the liger even more and caused to roar again, this time loud enough to make boulders drop from the roof above them. Tear and Ion moved quickly out of the way, and Luke was about to follow them when he remembered the cheagle. It stood a few steps away, panicked and terrified. The noble cursed. No matter how annoying the thing was, he didn't want it to be crush beneath the boulders either. In one move he dragged his sword out of the sheath and stepped closer to the thing, just in time to block a rather huge stone from hitting the cheagle.

"Th-thank you!" giant eyes filled with awe met his, and the boy blushed slightly as he moved his head to the side.

"Don't get me wrong. I wasn't protecting you. I was protecting Ion!" he lied, his cheeks still a little red.

The liger queen, however, had gotten rather annoyed with these unwelcome guests and decided to take matters into her own hands – or pawns. Still growling she approached them carefully, watching their every move.

"She says she's going to kill us and feed us to her children," Mieu squeaked as it hid behind Luke's legs. The young noble gripped his sword harder.

_This is bad. A battle cannot take place here! Those eggs…_

"Here she comes… Fon Master, please step back with Mieu," Tear ordered, taking out her rod and took a step closer to the approaching monster. Luke went completely cold inside. _This isn't right!_

"W-wait…" he called out, glaring at the brunette by his side, "If we fight here, the eggs might break." Those unborn children. They would never get the chance to live, and they would be reason for that. He may not have had a problem with the earlier monsters, but this just seemed wrong!

The girl glared back, anger and annoyance shining from her eyes.

"It may be cruel, but that would probably be for the best. If we leave the eggs and they hatch, the young could easily wipe Engeve out entirely," she said between her teeth. The red haired boy trembled and struggled to keep his hands steady. It still seemed wrong, even if it was for the better. How could Tear be so cold about it?

"Look out! The queen!" Ion called out, just in time for the two fighters to move out of the way as the liger jumped to the place they had once stood. Luke rolled around on the ground, still cursing to himself. He knew Tear was right, but… With an angry yell he got to his feet and ran forward, slashing at the monster once he got close enough. It snarled and hit after him with it's claws. It hurt where it hit, but Tear's _First Aid_ healed it before the wound became a problem. Luke attacked again, dragging the liger's attention to himself so the brunette would have enough time to cast another one of her fonic artes. The monster kept coming after him, making the boy leap and roll to dodge the various attacks it threw out. Sometimes Tear's artes would hit it, but it just shook it's head and moved forward once more. Luckily it had decided to focus on the two fighters and left Ion and Mieu alone.

"Hey! What the hell? It's not dying!" Luke called out as he used his sword to stop the liger's claws from touching him for the tenth time since the battle begun. He knew his attacks had reached the stupid animal, many of them had, but none deep enough to make blood appear.

"This isn't good. Our attacks aren't hurting it at all," Tear answered, stopping her performance to take a quick breath. The redheaded noble knocked the monster backward with his sword and moved a few steps away.

"So… so do something!" Tear always had a plan, it seemed, and so she had to have one this time too.

"Allow me…" they both stopped at the sound of the new voice. At first, the noble had been frightened that Ion might have stepped out on the battlefield to use that weird artes of his. The voice, however, was not Ion's – it was too mature and dark - and yet it was not unfamiliar either. The man it belonged to came out from the darkness of the cavern and at that time Luke was not able to place him at all. He knew he had seen that blue uniform somewhere else, along with the red eyes hidden behind long hair and glasses.

"Who are you?" Tear asked, obviously unable to place him as well.

"Leave the inquiry for later. I'll use fonic artes to take care of this. You make sure I have time to cast." No different from what they had been doing so far, then. Hopefully, this guy's attacks would work better than Tear's or his had done. Luke charged forward again, slashing after the liger as soon as he got close enough. Master Van had taught him a lot of different ways of fighting, and if he ever got a chance to use that knowledge, it was now.

Then, after a few seconds that felt like hours, the man released his fonic arte. Exactly what it was, Luke had no idea – some bright lights or something - , but it killed the liger instantly.

Exhausted, the redheaded boy fell backwards into a sitting position on the ground, not giving a thought about his clothes. They were already dirty anyway from all the rolling on the ground. He didn't mind, not really, and especially not now when he was dead tired. Somewhere in the distance he could hear the man call out a name and a girl dressed in pink appearing from the shadows. They talked about something he didn't catch and the girl went off into the forest again. How strange, why would she disappear so fast?

Throwing a glance around, the boy's emerald eyes fell on the broken eggs inside the nest and the fallen body of their mother. When had they been broken? He couldn't remember getting close to them, and not that Tear's artes had hit them either.

Murder. It had been murder to break those eggs, even if they had saved lives in doing so.

"…This left a bad taste in my mouth," he whispered, still watching the eggs.

"You're quite kind. Or perhaps just soft…" Tear's voice said from behind him, causing the boy to turn his head to glare at her. He had not noticed her being so close. It was almost freaky.

"… And you're cold!" he told her back, letting the anger get the better of him. Her face was unreadable.

"Oh, dear. Lover's quarrel?" the man clad in blue said with an amused smile on his face. Luke moved the glare from the girl to the man.

"Shut up!" he yelled as he stood up.

"Colonel Curtiss…" Ah, that's who he was! The man from Rose's house yesterday, "We don't have that sort of relationship," Tear said, arms crossed over her chest. Luke made a sound deep down in his throat. No way that he would _date_ someone like _Tear_. Sure, the girl was nice and good looking, and maybe even his type, but she was so damn _cold_!

Colonel Curtiss only laughed.

"I'm joking. And please, call me Jade. I'm not accustomed to being called by my family name."

"…Jade, I'm sorry for running off and doing this." When had Ion gotten so close? One minute the boy had been standing near the entrance to the cavern, and the next he stood right beside the Colonel. The Fon Master wore an apologising smile as he stood face to face with this Jade guy.

"It's unlike you to do something like this when you know it's wrong," the longhaired man scolded.

"Together with Yulia, the cheagles are the foundation of the Order of Lorelei. I felt I had to take responsibility for any trouble they had caused…" the young boy apologised.

"And that's why you used your power? Didn't the doctor tell you not to?" Luke felt annoyance grow inside of him. It was unfair of the man to treat Ion like that just because he did what he thought to be right.

"…I'm sorry."

"And you've involved civilians as well." That was it. The redheaded noble glared at the soldier.

"Hey, old man, he's apologising, right? Give him a break," he said, one arm fastening his sword back in the sheath while the other was tightened to a fist. Curious red eyes landed on him.

"Oh. I expected you to complain about being dragged into this. I'm a bit surprised." He sure didn't look surprised. Luke crossed his arms. He really didn't like this guy at all.

"I volunteered to help him," he said, causing the man to actually raise his eyebrows. One win.

The Colonel pushed his glasses up a little.

"Well, we don't have much time, anyway. I'll stop the lecture at that," this time the red eyes were fixed on the Fon Master again.

"The letter arrived, didn't it?" the green haired boy asked. What the hell did they talk about now?

"Yes. Now, let's go ahead and get out of this forest." Jade turned around to leave the liger's lair, just as Mieu jumped up on Luke's head.

"No. We have to report to the elder," it said, it's annoying voice cutting right through the ears of the young noble. The boy shook the thing off and let it fall to the ground. The cheagle had on the other hand stopped Jade's movements.

"A cheagle speaking a human language?" he questioned as he frowned.

"It's the power of the Sorcerer's Ring. Jade, could we stop by the cheagles' home?" Ion gave the older man a pleading look.

"All right. But please don't forget that we haven't much time."

*~^:^~*

Going back to the tree where the cheagles lived was a lot easier now that they knew the way, and within a short among of time the group of four humans and a cheagle found themselves standing face to face with the old cheagle that had sent three of them out to talk to the liger earlier that day. Mieu handed over the Sorcerer's Ring and chatted with the elder on their own language.

"It's quite amusing to watch monsters talk like this," Jade commented. Luke didn't understand what he found amusing with these annoying creatures. They were so loud too.

"They're so cute!" the whisper reached his ears from the left side, where Tear stood. Frowning, the redheaded boy turned his eyes toward the girl. She had a longing look on her face as she stared down on the cheagles.

"Huh? You say something?" he asked. Natalia had taught him to _always_ ask if he thought he heard a girl say something. It might be important to her. He had definitely learned that the hard way. He cared a lot about his brother's fiancée, but her punishments for not listening _hurt_.

Tear, however, blushed as the question left his lips.

"N-no," she denied. Really? He had been so sure he heard something coming from her.

"Mieu told me what happened. You met with great danger on our behalf. We are grateful that you have kept your promise even after 2000 years," the cheagle elder said as it finished the conversation with Mieu.

"Of course. Aiding the cheagles is part of Yulia's teaching," the Fon Master answered formally.

"But the original cause of all this was Mieu burning the ligers' home. So I will have Mieu atone for his mistakes." Why was the noble suddenly getting the feeling that this would be a problem for _him_?

"What are you going to do?" Tear took the question out of his mouth. Was it just Luke or did the elder seem sad?

"I will exile Mieu from our tribe," it said. The blue thing beside the elder seemed on the edge of tears. It was unfair. The thing hadn't meant to burn the place down, and that punishment seemed so…

"That's too cruel," Ion said and the redhead couldn't agree more. To be banished away from one's family… If he ever got banished from his, he wouldn't know where to go at all.

_Asch. Mother. Guy. Natalia. Father. Master Van. Uncle. _

"Naturally, I don't mean forever. I hear that Master Luke," the boy flinched, this couldn't be good, "saved Mieu's life. Cheagles do not forget their debts. Mieu will serve Master Luke for one cycle of seasons." He was doomed. Why did he end up with the annoying thing? Give it to Tear or something, she at least seemed to like the thing.

"Hey, I'm not involved in this," he tried, waving his arms in front of him. Why the hell did the blue thing look so _sad_ when he did that?

"Mieu insists upon accompanying you, Master Luke. I leave it up to you to decide what to do with him."

"Fine." Oh well, he could always give it to Natalia; she had a soft spot for animals.

"I'll do my best to be useful, Master!" it said as the elder handed it the Sorcerer's Ring back. The thing jumped around him, speaking loudly on it's own language.

"You're so annoying…" Luke muttered, but he picked the thing up and placed it on his shoulder. Having it walk behind them would just slow them down, and Tear had said it would be a long walk back home to Baticul.

With Jade leading the way toward the entrance of the Cheagle Woods, the duo from Tataroo Valley realised just how much of a detour they had done on their walk there earlier. Following behind the Malkuth soldier, the path that had taken them hours now took less than one.

As they got closer, Luke's eyes fell on a small girl standing by the entrance. The very same girl Jade had talked to earlier. The girl the noble and Tear had met at the inn the day before. A Fon Master Guardian, that was what she was.

"Hey, isn't that your bodyguard?" Luke asked the Fon Master as they came closer. Ion smiled softly.

"Yes, that's Anise," he said, eyes never leaving the pink clad girl. Apparently, she too had seen them for she suddenly started to run toward them, followed by two guards in Malkuth uniforms.

"Welcome back!" she said cheerfully as the two guards placed themselves close by Tear and Luke.

"Greetings, Anise. What's the status of the Tartarus?" Jade seemed rather unaffected by the whole situation. The girl raised one hand into the air and lifted one foot.

"It's in front of the forest, just like you asked. You said to hurry, so we came as fast as we could!" The Tartarus? The battleship belonging to the Malkuth Empire? That didn't sound too good.

"Hey! What's going on?" Luke asked. He didn't like all this secrets going on between the strangers, and he didn't like the guards closing in on him either.

"Restrain those two. They're the ones who've been emitting the Seventh Fonons," Jade ordered. One glance to the side told Luke all he needed to know about how Tear calmly handled the situation. Damn that cold, soldier face!

"Jade! Don't do anything to hurt them…" Ion sounded regretful, almost apologising.

"Don't worry. We won't kill them. Assuming they don't resist," that sounded reassuring, "Be good, kids. Take them away!" hands grabbed him, but the young noble was too confused to interfere. What the hell was going on? They had done nothing wrong! This would just halt their journey home even more, and he already longed for the walls of the manor no matter how much of a prison it had been before.

*~^:^~*

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed. **


	6. Chapter 5 - The Tartarus

**A/N: I think I forgot to change the chapter number on the last chapter… Hehe, sorry! ^^' Here's the next chapter. A little shorter than the last one, but it is the calm before one of many storms. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. **

**Chapter 5**

**The Tartarus**

"The Seventh Fonon hyperresonance came from the direction of the capital of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear and converged inside Malkuth territory near Tataroo Valley," Jade stared at the two teenagers from behind his glasses. Luke rolled his shoulders. That stare could probably stare straight through a wall if necessary.

"Now, if you two were the source of that hyperresonance, that would make you guilty of illegally crossing the border into our country, wouldn't it?" the longhaired man continued, his eyes still fixed on them. From behind him, the young noble could see Ion and his Guardian – Anise was the name of the pink dressed girl – watching the scene with interest.

They were in a little room aboard the Tartarus, the Malkuth Empire's newest land dreadnought, all filled with beds, boxes, a table and a sofa where Luke and Tear, with Mieu in her lap, sat. It was the place they had been taken to when the soldiers captured them some time earlier, and it was just hours later that Jade had decided to come and explain why the hell they had been taken.

"Tear, we already know you're with the Oracle Knights. But what about you, Luke? What's your full name?" The redheaded noble found himself disliking the older male more and more as the time went by. Still, this was probably the best chance he would ever get to clear up one thing that had bothered him as long back as he could remember.

"Luke fon Fabre. I'm the Luke you idiots tried to kidnap," he said as he crossed his arms over his chest. For once he might get a real answer to the whole kidnapping thing. Asch never wanted to talk about it, and no one else at the manor seemed to know anything beside that the two boys were taken by the Malkuth military.

Whether it was his name or the kidnapping fact that surprised his newest acquaintances, he didn't know, but whichever it was it left both Anise and Ion with shocked faces. Jade appeared rather untouched by what the noble said.

"The son of Duke Fabre, who married into the Kimlascan royal family?" the soldier stared at the redhead and waited for a confirmation.

"A Duke?" should he be afraid considering how the Fon Master Guardian sounded as she spoke his father's title? That was a little more than just cheerful.

"Why are you in Malkuth? And what's this about a kidnapping? That doesn't sound very pleasant," Jade drowned Anise's voice as he spoke, dragging the attention back to himself and away from the little girl. Luke frowned slightly. The other man had never heard of the kidnapping? That didn't sound right.

"We're here only because our Seventh Fonons caused a hyperresonance. It wasn't an act of aggression against Malkuth by House Fabre," Tear explained, dragging the conversation back to the main topic.

"Colonel, I believe Tear is telling the truth. I don't feel any hostility from him," Ion aided, smiling softly to the two on the sofa. The redheaded noble relaxed a little at his words and answered the smile with one of his own grins.

"Yes. It does seem he's lived a sheltered life, completely ignorant of the world outside," the grin faded away and emerald eyes glared at the Malkuth Colonel.

"Humph. Fine, make fun of me," Luke muttered as he crossed his arms and turned his head to glare a hole in the wall to his left. It wasn't his fault he had been locked up in the manor after losing his memories. _Annoying old man_.

"Actually, why don't we ask for their help?" Ion said as walked a few steps closer to the captured duo. Jade sighed.

"We're headed for Kimlasca under orders from His Majesty, Peony the Ninth, Emperor of Malkuth," the soldier explained, still keeping a firm look on Tear and Luke. To his side, Luke could feel Tear straighten in her seat.

"To declare war…?" she asked hesitatingly. That got the noble boy's attention. The redhead twisted around to stare at her with wide eyes.

"Wait, what? Are saying a war's gonna start?" he questioned. When had things gone this bad between the two countries? Sure, the coachman from earlier had mentioned something similar to this, but… Neither his father, Asch nor Natalia had ever spoken about a war!

"You've got it backwards, Luke!" emerald eyes turned towards the black haired Guardian, "we're trying to prevent a war from breaking out." The Colonel's stare switched from the duo to the little girl.

"Anise, that's not public information," he scolded, but that didn't stop the words from reaching those who should not have heard them.

"Trying to prevent a war…?" the noble asked, completely ignoring the Colonel's words to the girl, "Are relations between Kimlasca and Malkuth really that bad?" It sounded a lot worse than what the coachman had said. By the way this group sounded, one could almost expect a war to break out any second. _Why didn't you tell me, Asch, Natalia?_

Tear watched him from the side; those blue eyes were hard not to notice.

"I think you're the only one who doesn't know," she said, but the boy was too lost in thoughts to answer her. From across the floor, red eyes followed those on the sofa. A hand lifted glasses back up on the nose.

"We're going to release you now. I'll grant you permission to enter any area you wish, apart from those containing military secrets," Jade said, causing the two teens to flinch slightly and stare at him with huge eyes. They had not expected to be released so quickly after the capture, definitely not by the man who stood in front of them.

"First, learn a little about us. Then, if you feel you can trust us, we'd like to ask your help. So that we might prevent this war," which was probably the most honest the man was ever going to be with them. Luke crossed his arms and struggled to keep from tapping his foot on the floor. What was the problem with being honest about this whole war-peace-thing?

"If you want us to help you, why don't you just tell us what's going on?" he questioned with annoyance clear in his voice. The man answered with a slight smile.

"If we were to explain and then you decided not to cooperate with us, we would be forced to hold you captive," that nice-sounding voice didn't match him at all. Wait, the hell had he just said?

"What?" they had to hold them _captive_ if they didn't _cooperate_ after hearing the whole truth? That was just ridiculous. Besides, he did want to help bring peace to his home country, the country two of the people most dear to him one day would rule. Even though one of them could be rather annoying at times. Scratch that, _both_ could be annoying as hell.

"This matter is a state secret. That's why I'm urging you to make up your mind. I hope we have your understanding," Jade left the room without a second glance on them, leaving his final words to hang in the silence that followed his departure.

"I'm sure they'll tell you the details after you agree to help. I'll be waiting," Ion said with a soft smile after what seemed like hours of complete silence. With that said, the green haired Fon Master decided it was time for him to follow the Malkuth Colonel. Luke stared blankly out in the room, lost in thoughts of war and siblings, and didn't notice Tear's movements before she stood right in front of him. If he should judge out form her face, he would say she had been standing there for a while already, even though he could have sworn Ion just left.

"Why don't we take a walk around the ship?" she asked once she was sure he had his attention at her, "I think even you'll start to get an idea of what's going on in the world." That hurt a little. He wasn't _that_ oblivious to his surroundings. The only reason he didn't know about the war was because no one had _told_ him about it, damnit!

"Let's go exploring, Master!" Mieu squeaked as it landed on his right shoulder. A little too close to his ear. The redheaded noble pushed the little blue thing away, causing it to hit the floor with a soft thud. He regretted it just a second too late, and the hurt look the thing sent him didn't help, but his pride stopped him from picking the thing up again from the floor.

"Luke!" the brunette scolded as she knelt down to do the job he should have done. Luke sighted in annoyance and irritation, and let the girl handle the cheagle as he started to walk toward the door on the other side of the room. He should apologise, but not now. Not when he was still irritated, both by the sudden attack on his hearing and by the scolding. Later. He would save it for later.

"Hey, Luke!" oh, he had forgotten the Fon Master Guardian was still in the room. The little girl, who had been standing right by the door, stopped him in his tracks and smiled widely up at him. Dark eyes shined in the weak light of the cabin.

"I can show you around if you like!" she offered. The wide smile, however, faded away the minute Tear caught up to them and placed herself by the boy's side.

"Um… Maybe I would just get in the way…"

The brunette shook her head and gave the girl a light smile.

"Not at all. We'd appreciate it," she said, her eyes not once landing on Luke. Mieu was safely placed in her arms. The boy crossed his arms and glared at the door next to him. If she wanted to be like that, then fine.

"So, Luke… Where do you want to go?" the pink-clad girl asked as she jumped into his field of sight, a wide smile covering her face. Apparently, Tear didn't matter to the girl even if she had been the one to answer her request to guide them.

"Where?" the redheaded noble relaxed enough to let his arms fall to his side. He had never been aboard a ship before – not one he could remember, at least – and what sort of facilities they had on these things were unknown to him. Natalia had once spoken about her tour with the cruise liner bearing her name, but what she said she had done there he couldn't remember.

"Well, uh, I don't know anything about this ship, so… What's on it?" he answered, emerald eyes placed on the dark haired girl. When the _hell_ had she gotten a hold of his left arm? He tried to shake her off, but the girl's grip just tightened by the action.

The smile faded away a little as the girl placed a hand beneath her chin and gained a thoughtful look on her face.

"Let's see… There's the bridge, there's the lounge where all the soldiers relax, and there's the cafeteria too…" she stopped, her face dropping a little, "well, a small one, anyway. Then there's the big room they use for meetings, and a bunch of rooms for everyone to sleep in." Luke raised his eyebrows.

"That's it? Doesn't sound very interesting," and Natalia had said this things were _fun_? She really had to reconsider her definition of that word.

Anise held out her hands, finally letting go of the arm she had clung to with one of her own.

"Well, the Tartarus is a battleship, so it can't really compare to a cruise liner…" fine, maybe the princess was correct, then, "Oh! How about the engine room? It's great if you're into fontech," the Fon Master Guardian grinned as she completed her sentence. It would probably have been amazing for Guy, who he knew loved fontech, but the redheaded noble lacked his friend's interest and understanding of those things. Tear didn't look too interested in going there, either.

"Uh, no, that's okay. I don't know any of that stuff anyway," Luke said, which was entirely true. Guy might have tried to explain it to him – and Asch – but it had failed completely in entering the twins' heads.

The dark haired girl opened her mouth to say something, probably a reply to their conversation, but got interrupted by a loud growl. The four in the room twisted around, trying to find the source of the sound. The room, however, was completely empty beside the four of them. When the growling sounded one more time – a little too close -, Mieu jumped out of Tear's arms and sought refuge in the mass of red hair hanging down Luke's back.

"It's a monster, mieu!" it cried while clinging to the back of the noble's jacket. The boy placed his left hand on the hilt of his sword, prepared for whatever might come their way. Tear had tightened her grip on her rod, her face cold and emotionless. The third growl, not so loud and close as last time, made the redhead turn his head in it's direction, only to stand face to face with the brunette. Then, Anise burst out in laughter, which caused the two teens to blush. The possibility of her laughing at them was far too realistic. It didn't help that the young girl fell to the ground and rolled around for a good minute before she sat up again. A hand still rested on her stomach.

"What the hell are you laughing at?" Luke could feel his face starting to match his hair more and more as the seconds went by. Tear wasn't fairing any better, though the colour of her face resembled Asch's hair-colour more than his. And it was no fair that the girl _laughed_ of them.

"I think the cafeteria is where we are going, 'cause you two sound like you haven't eaten in months!" Anise laughed, her voice rising in volume as two red faces just blushed even more.

*~^:^~*

The cafeteria aboard the Tartarus was rather small compared to the ones Tear was familiar with from her previous trips to military mess halls. The room was lit up with the use of fonstones, three above each of the five long tables reaching almost from side to side. It was completely empty beside the two captured teens, the cheagle, their guide and a man sitting all alone a little further away on the table they had taken a seat by. Those who made the food were either on the kitchen or gone to bed.

Tear's blue eyes were locked on the blue cheagle – a boy cheagle, which they had learned earlier when Luke accidentally called Mieu a girl – and the one he called master. She was still a little angry at the redhead for how he had thrown the cheagle to the ground without apologising afterwards, but they seemed to have made up with each other somewhere along the way to the cafeteria. At the moment, they were both enjoying supper; a bowl of soup in Luke's case and vegetables for Mieu. The brunette was a little embarrassed about how she could have forgotten to stop for breakfast earlier that day – mostly because the boy had gone his own way before she even could consider it – and make lunch during their little adventure in the Cheagle Woods. They had ended up going the entire day without anything to eat, and by the time Jade released them, it was already too late for anything other than supper. Not that it bothered her much; the soup was rather good – the empty bowl stood in front of her - and the noble had yet to complain about it not being what he was used to. Watching cute Mieu eat his food also made it all worth it.

Luke had at some point found a rubber band he used to keep his long, red hair from getting in the food. She almost wished she had hair like that. Such a beautiful colour with those adorable golden edges, and the length! Once, when she was a little girl, she had always dreamed of having hair that reached down her entire back, but that was before she realised just how boring her brown colour was and how stupid it would be to grow it any longer than she already had. Not that she hated her hair; she loved it, really, but it was just so normal compared to others. Especially when one stood beside those adorable red locks of hair, or sat as she did.

"Hello, Tear, are you listening?" blue eyes moved from the eating boy to the Fon Master Guardian sitting right in front of her on the other side of the table. Anise had hardly done anything besides talking since they started to move toward the cafeteria, and the older girl couldn't remember what they had talked about before she turned her attention towards the eating duo.

Luckily, she never had to answer as the only other person besides them in the cafeteria decided that was the perfect time to create an explosion. Anise twisted around to glare at him, obviously surprised by the sudden sound, and she was not alone in doing so. Tear felt her own attention getting dragged to the poor man, who looked guilty there he sat with his hands in front of him and his eyes locked on the table.

"Gah! Recruit Tony! Did you do it again?" the dark haired Fon Master Guardian yelled, her eyes piercing through the man. His head turned so he could face her, and the look in his eyes grew depressed.

"I-I'm sorry!" he answered, lowering his hands so they rested against the surface of the table.

"What were you doing?" the redheaded noble had switched his attention from his food to the poor soldier, a curious look in his emerald eyes. With the teenager's interest turned towards something other than his food, Mieu took the opportunity to steal some of the vegetables from the boy's soup. Tear blushed slightly. The cheagle was far too cute for his own good there he sat munching on his food.

The soldier who had caused the explosion cleaned his throat before he gave the watchers a small smile.

"I want to become a fonist, so I was practicing fonic artes," the smile turned a little sad before he continued, "fonic artes are big in our country, so a soldier who cannot use them is an embarrassment…" Being a fonist herself, Tear knew next to nothing about how it must be for those who was not. What would life be like if she did not have her fonic artes? Maybe she did depend too much on them, but they were handy and useful.

"How do you use fonic artes, anyway? Can I use it, too?" the brunette blinked. Had no one taught the young noble about fonic artes? Not that his sudden interest in the subject surprised her; she had seen the passion he held for his sword and how much he practiced with it, and earlier that day she had heard him ask Ion about the fonic arte he used before they showed up. Anything that could be used to make someone stronger seemed to gain the redhead's attention.

Apparently, the question didn't bother the soldier either. If anything, he seemed happy to be able to explain something he obviously was interested in to someone who hardly knew anything about the subject.

"You take fonons from the fon belt into your body and then collide your fonon frequency with their own, generating special power," Tony explained, holding his hands out in the same position he had had them right after the explosion. The noble, however, tipped his head to the side and looked just like a question mark, eyes confused and lips slightly parted.

The Oracle Knight sighed. It would probably be for the better if she took over.

"The fon belt is a layer of fonons that surrounds the planet," she said in a soft voice. He didn't deserve that she got irritated because of this, not when he couldn't remember due to amnesia. "By opening your body's fon slots, you draw in fonons and then join them together using a fon verse…" and the boy just looked more confused than ever.

"Huh? I have no idea what the hell you're talking about!" frustrated, he ruffled his own, long hair, completely forgetting about the rubber band and thus making the hair stand out in every direction.

_Cute_.

"Okay. Basically, a fonic arte uses a spell – a 'fon verse' – to control elemental powers called 'fonons'," Anise took over the explanation, hopefully having some more luck with the boy than the two others. Luke still didn't seem like he understood anything of what they had tried to teach him. Tear would explain it better for him another time where she could show him what she meant as well. This was something that most likely needed to be viewed for someone to understand it better.

"It is very difficult," Tony said as he stood up from his seat, eyes locked on the redhead. "Colonel Jade can do it as if it were nothing," he grinned a little, "he's a genius." With that, the soldier nodded once to the little group before he headed towards the door and disappeared out of the cafeteria. As he left, Anise stood up and came to sit beside Luke, clinging to his arm as she tried to explain the fonic artes subject to him.

The brunette, however, was too lost in thoughts to even care about the conversation going on by her side. Something in the man's voice kept Tear from forgetting what he had said right before leaving. He was proud, she noticed, proud of being a part of the team that travelled with the Colonel, proud to be at the same place as the older man. Apparently, Jade held a lot of respect among the soldiers working beneath him.

Speaking – thinking, more like it – of the Colonel.

"Well, well, Luke. A lovely lady on each arm?" Jade stood right in front of them, Ion by his side, and watched the three on the other side of the table. Mieu had slipped out of view, most likely to sit in Luke's lap.

Tear could feel her face burn all over again. Had it not been enough with the whole growling-stomach-incident?

"Oh, Colonel…" Anise's giggling voice didn't help much either. The red eyes stared straight into Tear's blue ones. Was that a teasing look?

"I… I'm not… We're not…" why wouldn't her mouth form any words? And had she just called Luke _cute_ earlier? Wait… He called her _lovely_? And a _lady_? Those were words female soldiers hardly ever heard.

"I'm sorry for getting you involved in this," the Fon Master said as he sat down right across of Luke. The redhead's face was matching his hair again, and he had to swallow before he could find the words to answer the boy with.

"No problem. If you'd at least tell me what's going on…" Luke didn't sound demanding despite his words. Just a little disappointed. Maybe he was used to not being told everything about what was going on. That would explain his surprise when they told him that Malkuth and Kimlasca were close to war with each other. The green-haired Fon Master gave them an apologising smile.

"I'm afraid I'm influencing the situation as well. That's why Jade is being so cautious," he said.

"Because the Order of Lorelei is acting as a go-between?"

Ion nodded.

"Yes, that's part of it, but… I'm afraid I can't tell you yet," he did sound sorry for not giving them the entire thing straight out, but Jade's keen stare and the situation alone stopped him. The young noble muttered something beneath his breath, but Tear didn't quite catch it no matter how close she sat. Whatever it was, she doubted it was important, otherwise he would have said it louder.

"Now, Luke," the Colonel's voice gained the attention from all in the cafeteria, " what's this about a 'kidnapping' you mentioned earlier?" he asked in a voice filled with curiosity, but it only served to annoy the young noble.

"How should I know?" he said, waving his hands in frustration and glaring at the man still standing in front of them , "you people from Malkuth are the ones who kidnapped me and my brother!" that got the Malkuth soldier to frown.

"Your _brother_?" Tear doubted anyone but her – and maybe Ion - had heard the man's low question. She blinked. What was so strange about Luke having a brother? Most families she knew about had two or more children, it was rather strange for her to hear about those who only had one.

"Well, I'm afraid I don't know anything about it. Did it happen during the previous Emperor's reign?" the man said in his normal voice, but the eyes never left the youth in front of him. Luke crossed his arms and turned his head to the side, refusing emerald eyes from meeting ruby coloured ones.

"Beats me. Thanks to that, I lost all my childhood memories."

Tear felt bad for him again. It couldn't be easy, not remembering any of your past memories. No wonder the boy got frustrated and irritated over things he should remember, but didn't.

"I'm sure you have your grievances, but I do hope that we can obtain your cooperation." Was it just her or had the Colonel been silent for a little too long when Luke finished talking? Probably just her imagination.

"Very well, then, I will let you think it over tonight and talk to you again tomorrow morning," without another word of goodbye, the long haired soldier turned around and left the cafeteria.

The five left behind – if one counted in Mieu – sat in silence for a few minutes, before they decided to turn in for the night, letting Ion and Anise guide the two previous-captives to a room they could use for the night.

*~^:^~*

**A/N:** **The calm before the storm. Not my favourite chapter, but oh, well. Hope you enjoyed it anyway^^ **


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